CHRONOTALE (DISCONTINUED Until Further Notice)
by IllusionWriter
Summary: Lux is a 12-year old who still believes in the legend. The legend of Monsters. And he's determined to prove it. He'll show them. He'll prove them wrong. But as Lux falls into Mt. Ebott's mouth, he finds himself in entirely different timelines. Someone is pulling the strings. How will Lux effect the outcome?
1. Free

...

A long time ago, a human fell into the RUINS.

Injured by its fall, the human called out for help. AISELR, the king's son, heard the human's call. He brought the human back to the castle. Over time, RISEAL and the human became like siblings.

The King and Queen treated the human child as their own. The underground was full of hope. Then... One day... The human became very ill. The sick human had only one request. To see the flowers from their village. But there was nothing we could do.

The next day.

The next day...the human _**died**_.

SEIRAL, wracked with grief, absorbed the human's SOUL. He transformed into a being with incredible power. With the human SOUL, LIESAR crossed through the barrier. He carried the human's body into the sunset. Back to the village of the humans. LEIRSA reached the center of the village.

There, he found a bed of _golden flowers_.

He carried the human onto it.

Suddenly, screams rang out. The villagers saw SRILEA holding the human's body. They thought that he had killed the child. The humans attacked him with everything they had. He was struck with blow after blow. EILASR had the power to destroy them all.

But...SRAIEL did not fight back.

Clutching the human...LASIRE **smiled** , and walked away. Wounded, ARILSE stumbled home. He entered the castle and collapsed. **His dust spread across the garden**. The kingdom fell into despair. The king and queen had lost two children in one night. The humans had once again taken everything from us. The king decided it was time to end our suffering.

Every human who falls down here must _**die**_.

With enough souls, we can shatter the barrier forever.

It's not long now.

King GSAROE will let us go.

King GAORES will give us hope.

King AOESRG will save us all.

You should be smiling, too.

Aren't you excited?

Aren't you happy?

You're going to be _**FREE**_.

* * *

 **Undertale owned by _Toby Fox_**


	2. The Monster Sealing

● **Delta Rune Castle,** _ **Evening●**_

" **So, it has finally been settled."**

Cheers rang out all around as the King and Queen of Monsters fell to their knees, their eyes closed in defeat.

The nearly ear-deafening screams of victory rang out all around them and their fallen monster comrades. The sound of swords clanging together excitedly and insults being thrown left and right at them met their ears with much shame and degradation.

It wasn't until King Lorrad, the ruler of the Humans, approached the pair that they bothered to re-open their eyes to meet his gaze. A smile of victory was plastered on his face. His eyes, however, remained cold and calculated.

"Your time of resistance has come to an end. King Asgore and Queen Toriel...I am giving you both this last _**MERCY**_."

King Asgore mentally laughed to himself. _"Ironically, this is the first time I've heard you humans use that word."_

The Monster King chose to smile gently instead, rising from the ground and establishing a kneeling position. "What are the _terms_ of this...'mercy'?"

King Lorrad gave out a small chuckle. Stepping forward, he made his way closer to the fallen King and Queen. This put both the Human soldiers and remaining Monsters on edge, another conflict possible to arise. However, no one made a move on the matter.

The Humans knew they had won, and the Monsters had no chance.

As King Lorrad stood directly in front of the two, he stuck his sword into the dirt, repeating the same kneeling pose as King Asgore did. "You and your kind are to be banished into the mountains...just east of here. We will cast a varnishing spell that will render your kind impossible to escape it."

An eruption of anger arose at once in the Monster King's heart.

King Asgore reached inside of his purple cloak, and in an extremely swift fashion, swung out his crimson-toned trident staff. Queen Toriel's heart skipped two beats as her eyes widened with fear, it being blatantly obvious what was to come next.

"ASGORE, NOOO!" she screamed in a loud and shaky tone.

He gripped his trident tightly and slashed downwards right at King Lorrad-

" _!?"_

King Asgore's scorching-red eyes were forcefully locked onto the Human king's.

A look of surprised shock was present in them as the Monster King's body, along with his Queen and all of the Monsters around him, were surrounded by a cyan-colored aura. No matter how hard the Monsters had tried to move, it gave no results. They were rendered completely immobilized.

The trident had been paused right in front of the Human King's face.

King Lorrad bounced back up to his feet, having finally caught up to reality. Regaining his composure, he pulled his sword out of the ground.

" **I believe now is the time to act, King Lorrad."**

The Human King spun on his heels to face behind him, finding himself in the presence of several cloaked individuals who had just made their way past the circle of Human warriors. Each one sported a particularly different colored cape.

From left to right, it went.

 **Cyan, Orange, Blue,** _ **Red**_ **, Purple, Green, and Yellow.**

One of the seven individuals had an arm extended towards the collection of defeated Monsters, an aura color similar to the one surrounding them circling around it's hand. The seven mysterious figures began to advance calmly towards King Lorrad, their cloaks swaying gracefully in the winter's wind.

"We are greatly sorry for the hindrance, my king, but there were a few...precautions that needed to be resolved." the purple-cloaked human noted.

King Lorrad looked directly at King Asgore, then back to the several cloaked humans.

"I'd have to admit..it's been awhile since I've seen magicians in action like this." King Lorrad admitted, sheathing his sword into his hilt.

With the band of magicians now in the wake of his presence, King Lorrad faced back to the frozen forms of Asgore and Toriel. He paced back and fourth in front of them, choosing to stop after a moment of thought. Kneeling in front of them once more, he began.

"Now, let's try this again you two."

King Lorrad looked back at the magicians, nodding his head to them in a non-verbal confirmation. Without any words said, the cyan-cloaked magician lowered her hand, releasing the spell she had on the Monsters. King Asgore fell back onto his knees, panting due to the stress the freeze had put on him. His trident staff had tumbled forward right in front of King Lorrad's feet.

Before Asgore could do anything, the trident began to levitate off of the ground, an orange aura enveloping the magical weapon. The Monster King swiped his arm out in an attempt to seize it, but it was forcefully lurched away, now floating just in front of the magician with the orange cape.

Asgore's body was now shaking, his head lowered and his gaze glaring downwards at the cold, dirt ground. Toriel crawled worriedly over to her husband, wrapping an arm around his waist and placing a hand on his shoulder. King Lorrad took this time to clarify his message.

He re-drew his sword and lowered the sharp edge towards their faces.

All was silent at this point. The still, frigid air suddenly picked up and blew across the Delta Rune Castle's courtyard, and despite it's flinch-inducing chill, no more seemed to move.

More like dared.

"Once again. And I will ONLY say this ONCE MORE. King Asgore and Queen Toriel, will you stand down and accept these terms of **MERCY**?"

With the words out of his mouth, Lorrad was ready to act accordingly with the response. Asgore and Toriel turned to gaze at each other for a moment's notice, the Monster King willfully forcing himself to put his eyes back on the blade-wielding human after witnessing the tears that flowed mercilessly down his wife's cheeks.

Narrowing his eyes, Asgore slowly shook his head in protest, practically feeling Toriel's disbelieving gaze set upon him. They practically burnt holes into his back.

"We haven't come this far to be denied our chances of freedom. I don't care what you fear about us, human...I see no other "monster" here but YOU." Asgore seethed through his sharp teeth, his fingers digging into the hardened ground, collecting a ball of dirt in his hand.

King Lorrad sighed deeply, closing his eyes tightly. Drawing his blade towards himself, he raised it upwards and brung it behind his back, ready to swing it forth. "I'm sorry Asgore...Toriel...but you leave me with no other choice..."

The remaining Monsters gasped in horror at what seemed to be the near end of their precious king and queen's life. Most of them turned away to spare themselves any of the details.

" **I can't let you do that, human king!** "

The voice boomed downwards from the top of the castle, catching every single being's attention. Heads and eyes snapped upwards towards the structure's highest point to see a turtle-like monster standing proudly above. A hammer with an elongated handle in one hand, he raised it into the air, sending a battle cry towards the offending human forces.

"Gerson, the Hammer of Justice is here to bring this fight to an en-"

A cyan aura encircled Gerson and engulfed him, lifting him off of the castle roof. He flailed about, panicking as he was levitated towards the several Magicians. Without warning, he was abruptly slammed into the ground, his hammer wrenched from his hand.

"Your time is up, Monsters. **MERCY** is _no longer_ an option." King Lorrad said sternly, once again raising his sword above the Monster rulers to deliver a fatal strike.

"WAAAIITT!" King Asgore cried out in desperation, his hand outstretched.

Lorrad's sword stood suspended in the air, just ready to swing down on the two.

Asgore took in a shaky breath, and giving one more glance at the now sobbing Toriel, his rebellious attitude finally shattered into tiny pieces. Pieces that could not be put back together.

He struggled to get anything out. But knowing the fate of his fellow brethren if he didn't say something fast, he forced the words to leave his mouth. "I, King Asgore, on the behalf of my people...s-surrender to your terms of..."

King Asgore gritted his teeth, grinding them together as the last ounce fight left his body.

"...Mercy."

All of the Monsters remained silent and without much to say, while the humans continued their victory shouts from where they had left off. King Asgore slowly and reluctantly turned towards Toriel, who was now surprisingly smiling. Maybe it was forced, or maybe it was out of understanding and reassurance. He wasn't really sure.

"I-I'm sorry, Toriel..."

"There's no need for an apology, Gorey...you did what you had to do...and I'm sure every Monster here knows that too."

King Lorrad gave him a forced smile, lowering his sword and sheathing it. "Listen, Asgore. You're making the right choice."

The Monster King said nothing to this, choosing instead to rise to his feet and turn towards his fellow brethren. Toriel repeated the action, clasping her hands together tightly and leaning against her lover and king. Taking a deep breath, Asgore exhaled softly and began to speak.

"My fellow Monsters...this war has ultimately come to its end. And I have come to terms that we will no longer carry out our opposition to the Human forces. It is my greatest sorrow to say...that we are...to be sealed away from the Surface. We will not win our right to the sun. I am deeply sorry that I have failed you all."

Toriel looked directly in his eyes and hugged him affectionately, pressing against his armor. "You didn't fail anyone, dear. We all did what we could." she assured him, feeling his hand stroke her face in response.

"Yeah!"

"Long Live King Asgore and Queen Toriel!"

"Long live the King and Queen!"

The Monster forces all rang out in cheer and personal victory, triggering Asgore to smile warmly at their honoring respect. However, both Asgore and Toriel knew that this positive outlook on the situation would soon become bittersweet as the several human Magicians forwarded themselves, now standing side by side with the Human king.

"Let us guide the Monsters to the mountain, my king. Let's end all of this." the red-cloaked Magician said, waiting amongst the rest for the king's confirmation. King Lorrad hesitated a bit before taking his eyes off of Asgore and Toriel.

"Yes...let's begin the journey."

...

...

Every monster had been summoned to the very top of the rocky mountain now known as Mt. Ebott. All Monsters not present in the War of Humans and Monsters were notified of it's outcome and decision, and it left many hard burdens on their unprepared hearts. Human soldiers were rallied around the King and Queen of Monsters, just for precaution.

"The entrance is right up ahead." one Magician notified as they neared a corner around the mountain's edge, which had indeed led to an opening. King Lorrad couldn't even make eye contact with Toriel and Asgore as they passed him by, the circle of human soldiers around them breaking off to allow for their movement into the cave.

The seven Magicians stepped aside for them and the rest of the Monsters to follow their leaders' decision. As Asgore passed the row of human sorcerers, his eyes widen slightly at the sight of his trident staff, which was still suspended airborne beside the orange-cloaked magician who had confiscated it earlier. _"Now, why would they take it away from me if they know I can just create another one...unless..."_

The creatures made way into the cave, the sorcerers now side by side in front it. Toriel and Asgore presented themselves in front of the gathering of Monsters, ready for whatever came next. Finally deeming the action appropriate, King Lorrad approached the Monster King and Queen, momentarily catching their slight, but noticeably resentful glances. Pulling his gaze away from their pain-stricken eyes, the Human King announced to his fellow humans the rules of agreement in relation to the Monster's sealing.

"The Monster sealing is now about to commence, but we must come to terms with an agreement on a set of laws that must NOT be broken. Now, both Monster AND Human; take these words with a listening mind..." King Lorrad began.

"The first law is that no Human is allowed to venture close upon these lands. All humans are prohibited from entering, or attempting to enter this mountain. Are these terms understood?"

The humans nodded in agreement, giving Lorrad the okay for the next one.

"The second law, although obvious, must be clarified upon. No Monster will be able to leave the barrier. And any Human who breaks through, or, in any case, enters it will not be able to exit. It is a one-way portal and you will be unlikely to resurface. This correlates with the first law, am I to be understood?"

Another wave of nods and agreements rang around from the Humans. The Monsters, however, remained silent for the most part. Turning back towards the creatures, King Lorrad gazed boldly unto both Toriel and Asgore.

"Are these terms sufficient for you?"

King Asgore's piercing gaze never left the orange-cloaked magician, his trident staff floating next to him. Toriel abruptly nudged his side, earning her a small groan.

" **Yes**."

A small pause ensued between Asgore and the human, the giant monster's posture a reason alone to feel intimidated. But they both knew who had won. However, Asgore had his thoughts on something else in particular.

"Alright. Now, King Asgore...Queen Toriel...I wish there was some other way to ensure danger isn't instilled in the both of us. But this is the-"

"This ISN'T THE ONLY WAY!" Asgore outbursted, greatly surprising Toriel. King Lorrad visibly flinched, instinctively grabbing the hilt of his sword. "This war was fueled by FEAR. The fear of us reaping a human's **SOUL**. And by the way your hand is on that puny sword of yours, I am presumed to be correct."

Lorrad gritted his teeth, easing his hand off of his sword and turning away from Asgore's. A shame was resonated deep within his SOUL. He didn't blame him for seeing things that way. Maybe he was right.

"I'm sorry Asgore...and Toriel. All of you."

He moved back and gave the order to start the sealing spell. "When you are all ready, seal the barrier."

Each magician stepped back just a bit, each holding both of their hands out towards the air, an aura of each sorcerer's respective nature radiating out into a single line above Mt. Ebott's massive environmental body. The colors cyan, violet, purple, green, orange, yellow, and red combined together into a rainbow sphere that lowered just above the mountain's mouth.

"Ready yourselves to lower it." the red-cloaked sorcerer ordered, hands slightly wavering as the pressure of holding the spell took effect. In a synchronized fashion, the several Magicians began to deliberately motion their hands downwards. The rainbow sphere expanded outwards and began to slowly encase the mountain's body.

All the while, the humans watched in awe and amazement. Most of them had never seen a human hold such a power before; especially magic. King Lorrad tried to focus his vision on the spectacle unfolding in front of him, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of the King and Queen of Monsters. Toriel was staring directly at him, her soul-piercing gaze faltering his own. However, Asgore wasn't looking at him. He was focused on something else.

The magical dome was now just above the cave hole, gradually making it's way to the tip of the entrance. "Now, on my mark, we bring the barrier down indefinitely." the red-cloaked magician instructed. The Magicians all closed their eyes in focus. their hands continued to quiver as if fighting against an opposing force to bring the dome down in its final phase. Their bodies, however, remained stagnant. Asgore was still eying his trident, focusing on its energy and awaiting for the Magicians call.

"Now!"

The multi-colored barrier swung downwards in a swift speed. Just as it was halfway covering the cave, King Asgore brung up his hand and pulled it back. His trident staff began shaking beside the orange-cloaked magician and before any of the sorcerers could react, it rushed forward towards the cave. The sudden magical force caught the orange-robed magician off guard as well, causing him to stumble forward onto his stomach. In the nick of time, Asgore's trident swept under the magical barrier just as it finished it's sealing. It hovered in front of Asgore as he gripped it firmly in one hand and slammed the handle's end into the ground.

Toriel was taken aback by his actions, knowing full well that he could just easily materialize another one. The fallen Magician rose up from the ground, sweeping the dust off of his attire. He was a bit dazed but realized soon enough that the trident staff was back in the hands of its owner.

"Very clever, Monster. But it won't save you from your fate."

Asgore replied with narrow eyes.

"If anything, I can at least count _this_ as a victory."

The seal was complete. The cave entrance was blocked off by an invisible wall of magic clear as crystal itself. However, this was going to change. If it were to stay hidden, it needed to be hidden from human eyes.

"Make sure no one can ever find this opening again." the orange-cloaked magician said to the fellow sorcerer left of him. The cyan-cloaked human of the group nodded and proceed to walk up to the sealed entrance. Placing a hand on the barrier's wall, she focused all of her concentration and transferred it into the micro-thin layers of the magical enclosure.

As the segment of the barrier that covered the cave began to flicker brightly, she removed her hand and mumbled quietly the word, "Farewell."

With a bright flash, the cave entrance was now nothing more than another side of the mountain, any sign of an entrance having disappeared. At least, to human eyes.

"Now," the orange-robed magician began. "Speak nothing else of this. This is strictly confidential. I trust all of you, as you are all greatly loyal followers of your king, Lorrad. And trust isn't a problem between us. There is to be absolutely NO speaking of the whereabouts of this sealed passage. If you are questioned on the matter, state that the Monsters were sealed "under the mountain range", and nothing else. Is this all understood?"

There wasn't a single human that didn't comply with the magician's words. King Lorrad himself was completely silent but nodded his head heavily. "This war is over, fellow brothers and sisters...let's head for home." King Lorrad said, wordlessly walking past the seven Magicians and on their journey back to their kingdom.

...

...

King Asgore stood motionless, fixated on the white, glowing wall of magic that covered their only exit out of the mountain. Toriel's face was lit up by a flame crafted by her own magic. She created a way of sight throughout the passageways deeper inside the cave, the balls of flame suspended in the air to assist in guidance further down. They all noticed the glowing sapphire crystals that protruded out of the cave walls which helped with further navigation.

It was then when Toriel paused herself, turning towards her husband in a need for answers. "Why did you pull that move with the trident? It was practically nothing to you. You could have easily created a ne-"

"Those sorcerers...they took it from me for a reason. They were going to study it; use it for something. I just couldn't have given them that chance. I didn't want to risk anything else." Asgore interrupted politely. She nodded understandingly, bringing her free arm around his and leaning against him, balancing the ball of flame in her other hand. "This is all water under the bridge, Fluffybuns."

A silence permeated throughout the cave. Asgore tried to hold in the upcoming chuckle but was not very successful. "Mmm! Heheh...hahaha!" he laughed out loud, startling some of the Monsters that stood behind him. "I can never keep a straight face when you call me that, Tori."

This earned a warming smile from the Queen.  
"Excuse me, your majesties..." a voice echoed from behind the crowd. The group of Monsters all parted as a particular monster with a hammer weapon gripped in his right hand walked up to them.

"Ah, Gerson. Good to see your alright."

"Yeah," he assured the two rulers, rubbing the back of his head. "'Bit of a rash thing I did back there, but I tried...so, what shall we do now?"

Asgore and Toriel looked into each others eyes and nodded in a unified understanding. They both turned toward the gathering of Monsters, big and small. King Asgore stepped forward with his staff held tight in one hand and proclaimed the history-changing words of their future.

"We rebuild."

* * *

"Lorrad, it's been a long day...come to bed."

The king of the Humans sat tiredly at his writing desk, the lit lantern casting a fiery light on the journal and writing paper that rested upon it. "Forgive me, but I must put one more thing to rest. Just a few more minutes, my love."

The Queen sighed, turning to face the door. "You were always one that resented restfulness. Don't take too long," she said, smiling at him as she closed the door behind her. His eyes never left the paper he was writing on, his paused pen's movement motionless before starting up again.

" _The war of Monsters and Humans. A war and period in time so memorable, but meant to be lost in time, nonetheless. Still, I, King Lorrad, am here to tell it. For those who are there to listen._

 _Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS.  
One day, war broke out between the two races.  
After a long battle, the humans were victorious.  
They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell._

 _But I am getting ahead of myself._

 _Let us start at the very beginning..."_

 _[CHRONOTALE]_


	3. Prove 'Em Wrong

_The War of Humans and Monsters...where is it?_

The child was on a hunt. But instead of a rifle held in one hand and binoculars in the other, he was fully equipped with a pen and a checklist. Fully dedicated to his mission, he searched the library of his hometown frantically. His pointer finger moved slowly through each section and genre of books.

"It's got to be somewhere around here. There's no way it's been checked out yet." the kid assured himself.

Giving the type of book he was looking for, he truly doubted anyone had much interest in it anyways. So he continued to look, his eyes shifting left and right; up and down for any indication of the book of interest. He had found it before, only taking in a few pages through his eyes before he realized it was passed his curfew and he needed to go home. His parents were very serious about them, and he couldn't blame them. He was their only child after all.

He had really wished he had a library card assigned to him at the time, but parental guidance was needed to help obtain one for him since he was too young to do it himself. However, with his mom now available from work in the afternoons, he was finally on his way to bringing the publication home. But first, he needed to find it.

He left the fantasy section and moved past three bookshelves to find himself at the 'Myths and Legends' section.

"Bingo." he whispered triumphantly, mentally scolding himself for not checking the obvious of all sections first.

Lux eyed the spine of every book as he carefully skimmed each row, trying his hardest not to miss the targeted book. _The Iliad, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, King Arthur and the Round Table, The War of Humans and Mon-_

"Yes!"

He excitedly tugged at the top of the book spine, successfully pulling it out. He expected dust to accompany the action, but none ensued. _I'm obviously over-imagining things._

Gripping the book in his two hands, he mentally checked off the remaining item on his list. The book itself was about a foot long in length. The cover was made of a leathery texture, the color blue dominating as the primary color. In the top-center in gold-embolden letters read: ' _ **The War of Humans and Monsters**_ '.

"Lux? Lux, are you ready to go?"

The child's heart nearly leaped out of his chest as he turned to see his mother three feet away, clutching a few books of her own choosing.

"Y-yeah. It took a while, but I finally found it." Lux said, holding the book up for her to see. Her eyes skimmed the cover for a moment, acknowledging his choice and turning to head for the check-out counter. "That's nice, sweetie. I see you have an interest in _myths and legends_."

Lux inwardly cringed at the last words that came out her mouth.

 _Myths and legends? No...no, not this one._

"There can be some truth in fiction," Lux replied confidently, clenching the book tightly in his hands.

His mom smiled. "Sometimes there is."

...

...

* * *

Lux's mom opened the door to their house, slipping off her shoes at the mat. Lux copied the action, stopping behind her as she made her way into the kitchen. "It's almost twenty-five minutes 'till eight...are you sure you're not hungry?" his mom asked, opening the door to the refrigerator.

"Nah, mom, I'm good. Just ate before we left." Lux replied, already on his way up the stairs.

His mom's head poked out from the refrigerator and caught only a glimpse of his foot as he disappeared behind the staircase walls.

"...Huh."

Lux swung open the door to his room, closing it in a softer manner. He kicked his soccer ball out of the way as he got to his desk. Placing the book beside his laptop, Lux sat down hurriedly in his chair and logged on, the blue hue of the screen reflecting off of his eyes. He clicked on one of his applications, a chat box opening seconds after. The user-name box appeared on the right with two names highlighted at the top in green.

 **+Lux -** _ **logged in**_

 **+Shaun -** _ **Logged in**_

" _Hey, Lux...it's been awhile."_

"Yeah, it has _. How much homework did you get assigned to do this time?"_

" _Ha ha, very hilarious. Nothing to do with homework. Just fell asleep right after I got home from school. Waking up at night really throws you off. Apparently this has become a reoccurring thing. -_-"_

" _Heh, yeah...so I've got some great news. :)"_

" _You found that book, didn't you?"_

" _Yup. ;)"_

" _And now that you have it...what are you going to do next?"_

Slightly hesitant to reveal his full plans, Lux pondered for a moment before putting his fingers back onto the keyboard and continuing the conversation.

" _You know that mountain just east from here? I'm going there to see it it's true."_

" _You're not joking r u?"_

" _Nope. I'm serious. In about a week I'm going to check it out and I know it's a crazy idea but there's just too many connections!"_

" _Look dude. I understand you. And I will always have your back. But you're insane. You already told me that your mom said she wouldn't be able to take you there! 0_0 Now you're going there on your own?"_

" _Well your the one who said I was crazy...until I showed the relation of Mt. Ebott to our own mountain!"_

" _...Whatever. But I still think it's a bad idea."_

" _It's only about a mile away. I'll be fine."_

" _...Fine. But promise me you'll be okay."_

Lux mentally sighed.

" _You sound like my mom."_

" _Ugh whatever dude! Anyways, I wish I could join you or help in someway but you already know how my parents are with "study week". It's next week. My luck."_

" _Alright man. I'll update you when things go down."_

" _Cool. Just don't go missing or anything."_

" _I won't -_- Peace."_

" _Peace."_

Lux logged out and exited the program. As he eased back in his chair, he remembered the old book that rested just to his side. Wasting no time, he picked it up and made his way to bed, tossing himself on it and quickly opening it to the first page.

" _The War of Monsters and Humans_ _._ " the beginning title read.

Lux continued through, and in just the first two sentences, he was already captivated. He remembered some of the words from the first time he encountered the book, but he was more focused on skimming then than anything, given his extremely limited time. Now, he continued where he started off.

" _The war of Monsters and Humans. A war and period in time so memorable, but meant to be lost in time, nonetheless. Still, I, King Lorrad, am here to tell it. For those who are there to listen. Long ago..."_

Lux skimmed through the text he had already read.

" _...the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let us start at the very beginning."_

Lux turned the page.

" _To clarify myself, The full name I am entitled to is Lorrad T. Drayton III, and I am the ruler of the kingdom of Humans. Now, back on the subject of our kind and the Monsters. You see, Monster and Humans have been in coexistence for many, many centuries. There are many things that I, despite my title, do not understand. Nevertheless, the generations before us have passed down much knowledge to keep us in the know."_

" _It was only after my father's passing that I was crowned the future king of our dominant side of the country. And it was also during this period in time that I was personally introduced to the monarchs of the Monster kingdom: King Asgore and Queen Toriel. They were...an interesting pair. I haven't experienced a day in the time I knew them that they weren't smiling in some way or another. And their puns...they were plentiful and abundant in the meetings we had."_

" _Sadly, this calm in the scheduled assemblages were not eternal and the discussions eventually grew serious. Much more serious. It is very well known that a Human's SOUL lingers for a good deal of time after death. There was an incident involving a Monster and a Human; both around the same age. The two had ventured into a largely forested area, and through some cause, the human became ill. This was largely due to an allergy of some sort but no cause truly came to conclusion. Everything happened so fast. "_

Lux's eyes drooped tiredly, snapping open immediately after he noticed his drowsiness. _Just one more paragraph..._

" _The human child's parents were notified and news broke out about the sad incident quickly in the kingdom. It wasn't uncommon for Monsters or Humans who had close relations of friendship to the other race to die within a close proximity of each other, but it rapidly became a worrying thought that one day...a Monster would come in contact with said passed human being after he or she had passed. King Asgore, Queen Toriel, my wife and I had discussed this topic many times before. I have to admit that I was getting a little intimidated myself..."_

Lux nodded off a second time, catching himself before his head impacted the book. "I need to continue this tomorrow."

He placed the book beside him and pulled the cord to his lamp. His room went dark as he pulled his covers over him, relaxing his head comfortably on the pillows. Within minutes, he was asleep.

...

...

* * *

Four days had passed since he had finished the book. He read back over certain interesting chapters to help burn the knowledge into his brain, even writing down key events and notes inside of his journal. And although extremely nervous, he was sure about his decision to journey to that mountain to see if the legends were truly real.

His satchel laid on the corner of his bed containing the basic tools he thought he would need. A camera, flashlight, his notebook, and of course, the old book. It was midnight and his parents were dead asleep. He strapped the satchel over his shoulder and put on his shoes. Lux was lucky to have an alternate way out of his house, the window in his room a perfect sneaky exit. He wasn't really worried about any high drops due to the window leading out to the roof. He could just climb out and lower himself down.

And so he did. He grunted as his feet hit the pavement, being sure not to cause too much audible commotion.

He made his way down the street and out of the neighborhood, the constant fear of his mother and father's cries of confusion after discovering that their little boy was missing bearing against his mind.

Lux knew that he needed to hurry.

...

...

It took him a while, but he did eventually find the dirt road that led into the forest. Lux could just make out the mountain's peak from the forest entrance, fog dominating most of its form from view. (minus the trees). Sighing nervously, he made his way through the beginning of the trail. He began constantly scanning through the towering trees in slight paranoia of some wolf or beast jumping out to get him.

"I should really consider to stop watching horror movies..." he joked to himself, the attempt at shutting out his fears slowly failing him as he went in deeper. It was then that the path got a little more complicated. The dirt road that guided him began to slowly lose form, gradually fading out to be dominantly replaced with grass, different flowers, and plants.

The mountain was now directly in front of him, and it's size, although not as tall as say, Mount Everest, made him feel quite intimidated. Due to the reality of the situation, he slowly started to doubt the legend could really be true. But it was too late to back down now.

"I'm actually about to do this...okay Lux keep your cool..."

He took in a deep breath and began to look for an opening; an entrance of some sort. It was only about a good 10 minutes full of searching and worry that he found some kind of clue. But a very strange one. Lux noticed that vines were trailing from the trees and into various bushes and such.

"Huh."

It was already as dark as it could get and he wasn't sure he was even getting out of the forest alive. So he definitely counted getting home on time as an impossibility. Luckily for him, his flashlight, although an average size, had an excellent display of light power. He began his journey circling the mountain, desperately tracking various vines with the beam of light, hoping to find some sort of trail or...he really didn't know. Every vine he followed either led to another tree or plant that stood rooted just feet away.

"I am so dead."

However, he found one in particular...no, about three that all intertwined and led down a linear path from the trees and across the walls of the mountain. Still winging off of hope, he shined his light against the mountain and began to follow them. Taking his time as he trudged through the overgrown vegetation, he kept close to the wall of the mountain as possible before-

"Wait."

His light was no longer on the face of a wall. The illuminating beam shone into the darkness of a now illuminated opening. His heart began to ache with opportunity as he now stood in front of an open cave. Despite how bright his flashlight was, he could only see so far. This daunted Lux, choosing to take a minute to ponder on his choice.

*Go home.

...or.

*Continue on.

 _Should I really go through with this?_

On the flip side, he thought about the situation he had already put himself in.

"I'm already lost...so what other choice do I have?"

He had no other option in his opinion.

 ***Continue on.**

He reluctantly, but eagerly entered the cave.

He felt an extremely strange feeling in his body when he did so, only able to explain it as if his body was suddenly submerged in a chilling cold pool of water.

"Holy crap!"

 _Holy crap!_

 _holy crap.._

holy crap...

The echo of his outburst spread throughout the network of the cave as he took a minute to calm down, and shook off the experience. He slowly and cautiously took steps forward, deepening himself into the grotto and farther away from the entrance. He moved his arm to the walls of the cave, the flashlight catching glimpses of what seemed to be...

"C-crystals!?" he wondered out loud, immediately reaching for his bag and feeling for the form of his camera. Finally finding it, he pulled it out and pushed the big button at the top, powering it on. The display screen gave out another source of light next to the flashlight. He pointed his flashlight at the purple, translucent mineral, carefully angling his flashlight at it as he used the other hand to take the picture.

The camera lens zoomed in and out automatically, focusing on its subject.

 _*Snap!*_

Lux viewed the picture and was amazed. The brightness of the flashlight made the picture of the crystal a bit too bright, but it was still good enough and proof nonetheless. And with that, he moved on. Further, he moved through the cave, using the walls as guides. He marveled at the stalactites that protruded from the ceiling. They were like a thousand sharp teeth ready to chomp down on him. As he was regretting not bringing something to trail him back to the entrance, he realized that the vines that led him to the mountain's entrance, in the beginning, ran through even deeper. Following the vines, he found that he had run into a fork in passageways.

 _Left or right...left or right?_

"Ugh...if I don't find something else interesting fast, I need to consider going back." Lux thought aloud to himself.

Not giving himself time to think, he chose right. He went through the chosen passageway, admiring the crystal formations that were formed jaggedly pointing out of the walls and on the ground in some places. Lux began to realize that the crystals were actually giving off some sort of glow to them. His legs began to feel like jelly as he, at last, made it through the passage. His eyes widened in astonishment at what was laid out in front of him.

"Whoa...no way!"

The room was enormous. Crystal formations were all around and they glowed many times brighter than he originally had seen! Every crystal gave off a bright, glistening as he shined his flashlight all around them. The luminance of it all was enough to light up the room. The walls formed a wide cone shape that grew tighter as it went up, eventually coming to one point; that one point holding one huge and long stalactite that protruded downwards...towards an enormous hole.

Lux stood frozen for the longest time. His eyes could not leave the mouth that opened up in front of him. Yet his feet began to walk forward slowly and mechanically. He abruptly reached back inside of his bag, putting away the flashlight and reaching for his camera. Turning it back on, he stepped back and took a picture of the huge hole in the ground. It was then when his inner photographer came into play.

He began taking photos left and right; of the walls, the ground, the entrance from where he came...practically everything. He wanted as much proof as possible.

 _Oh yeah!_

Remembering his 'video' option, he quickly switched to it and pressed the record button.

"OKAY. Mom, dad...I know you're both going to grill me for this, BUT LOOK AT THIS!"

He carefully panned the camera around the room, making sure to get all of the details of the gigantic room.

"And you guys thought it wasn't real! Check out this freaking hole; it's huge!" he exclaimed loudly, getting a bit closer to the large hole.

Every step he took towards it made him feel extremely uneasy, and for good reason. He got to his knees, careful not to rest them on the vines that led down the gaping opening in the ground. cautiously edging nearer, he pointed the camera down it, hoping to catch something. But it was too dark. Then he got another idea. Turning the camera back to 'photo mode', he managed to muster the strength to stand. He pressed the camera button to take the picture but forgot to choose the 'flash' option.

"Why didn't I just use the flash option in the first place?" he thought to himself, mentally facepalming himself.

He attempted taking the photo again, the flash from the camera giving off a split-second lasting burst of light. Lux hovered his face over open hole and back to the review of the photo. He sighed quietly upon analyzing it.

"It's better...but no dice."

Lux's leg reflectively twitched when he felt something slide around his foot.

"What the heck!?"

He jumped from the sudden feeling and didn't realize his mistake until it was too late. He was already teetering on the very edge of the hole, trying instinctively to balance his weight away to avoid falling in. But it was too late. Before he could fully register what was happening, he was already rushing head-first into the mouth of the chasm.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Lux screamed and screamed as the air rushed against his face. The free-fall never seemed to end. He desperately clawed at the air as if it would save him as his life literally flashed before his eyes. His parents...his friends...them finding out he was gone...

Without warning, his decent was abruptly halted, the force of the sudden stop knocking him unconscious.


	4. Fallen Child

There was nothing but a darkness present in the back of his mind.

It was like he was aware that he was unconscious but his body was slow to catch up. He could still feel the nausea present as he felt his upside-down form slowly sway back and forth, the blood running to his head.

" _Hey..."_

He stirred in his partial comatose, a faint sound growing closer and closer...

" _Hey! A-are you okay?"_

Lux's eyes fluttered opened slightly in response to the voice and could just make out the blurry silhouette of a fairly small figure. It was then when he fully grasped the fact that he was hanging upside down.

"Ugh...what...happened?" Lux managed to slowly whisper out. The small figure approached him in a panic, attempting to pull at something that...seemed to be entangled around his leg. After a few seconds of pulling, the figure turned away from him and ran further away.

"Don't worry! I'm going to get help!" the voice assured him, this time sounding more clearer.

Lux noted that the voice sounded premature; much like him, but tad bit younger. Without warning, a sudden jolt of energy spread about Lux's body. His eyes shot open, and he twisted his waist left and right, panicking as he spun uncontrollably while trying to find out where he was. He looked forward in his inverted state and found that he was in another cavern-like room with torches aflame. His eyes quickly adjusted to the sight of the magnificently crafted stone columns that the torches were secured to. The direction of the pillars led to an exit...the same one the mysterious figure must have ran back through.

"Whe...where am I?" Lux asked himself, still a bit dazed.

He suddenly became aware of a tight pressure around his ankle and felt the urge to look up. As he did, he noticed a far-off hole in the ceiling of the room, a faint tinge of purple emitting out of it. He then lowered his gaze back to his leg, which had a thick, green vine ensnared around it.

"I guess...I can attribute that to the reason I'm still alive." Lux joked to himself, struggling to reach the vine and free himself. He immediately winced, stopping in his attempt after feeling a sharp pain in his back.

"Oww."

As his eyes met the ground, he realized he was at least a foot away from impact.

 _That's a foot away from the worst face-plant in human history._

It was only then that he realized the true horror of the situation. Just feet in front of him, lay his camera. His broken camera. It was shattered into too many pieces to think about fixing.

"Aww MAN!" Lux yelled in frustration, angrily swiping his arm at the air.

"Now what do I have to prove this place is for real?"

The young boy's tension settled to a beam of hope as he realized that the camera's memory card could still be salvaged. _Maybe hope's not entirely lost!_

As Lux calmed down, he remembered his other gear that he had brought along with him. He easily spotted his flashlight near the wrecked camera, unsure of its condition. Now, he began to search for his...

"Oh."

The satchel was still strapped around his shoulder and waist, but just barely. The old book on the Monster and Human war was kept safely within its pouch due to the buckle strap that sealed the flap from opening.

" _ **Just up here!"**_

Lux jerked his head towards the room's exit; two pairs of footsteps echoed from outside the room and were getting more audible with every step. It wasn't long before two figures rushed into the room, stopping just feet in front of the entrance. Though the room wasn't ideally bright, Lux could still see the figures clear enough. The one on the left seemed...whiter than usual. It took awhile for his eyes to adjust, but he could just make out a green sweater with yellow stripes. The other one wore a similar striped article of clothing, except it being a shirt with one stripe.

"Over there! It's a bit dark, but...he's hanging upside down from a vine. You can _cut_ him down, right?" the male voice to the left asked.

A short, and quiet pause ensued before a feminine voice that belonged to the figure right of Lux answered.

"I can try."

With that, the figure approached, arms behind it's back. Before Lux could say anything, the figure slowly pulled one of its arm into view, revealing a sharp cutting knife. Lux felt a darkening feeling twist inside of his stomach. But only for a second. The unknown being stood in front of him, bright-red pupils gazing straight into his eyes. He noticed the strands of brown hair that dangled slightly over them, giving them an even more intimidating look.

Now up much closer than before, Lux recognized the form. _Looks kinda like a..._

The seemingly uninterested eyes that stared back at him moved up to the strong vine that kept him dangled in his pathetic and vulnerable position. The figure hopped off the ground and swiped at the vine, cutting it in one swift motion. Lux had hit the hard floor before he even knew what happened. Luckily, he landed shoulder-first. Which still hurt. At least he didn't manage to land on his satchel bag.

"Ouch! Uh, a little warning next time, maybe!" Lux said, gripping his right shoulder.

"At least your still alive." the brown-haired character replied back in a monotonous voice.

Lux's pained expression turned into a grin while still rubbing his aching shoulder. He attempted to get up. "Yeah, I guess you're ri-!"

A sudden, sharp pain shot through his right leg, causing him to stumble to one knee.

"Aaarghhh! My freaking leg!" he shouted, abruptly falling back down and trying to stretch it out.

This only caused more discomfort. The white figure closer to the entrance stood alert and ran over to him. It stopped beside him and brung it's right arm around Lux's waist and used his other one to bring his left arm over its shoulders.

"It's okay. We'll get you to my mom. She can heal you up back up in no time!" the supportive figure said, bringing him back to his feet.

"Thanks. Hey if you don't mind telling me, where exactly am-"

Lux paused in shock as he faced the one who had helped him. He took a quick glance up and down the barely-lit form. It had white fur and a snout with fluffy ears drooping down the sides of its head. Its eyes were an emerald green and a smile was stretched wide across its face. It was definitely clear that it was a boy, but not exactly a human by human standards.

"W-what? Who are you!?" Lux stammered.

"My names _Asriel_. What's your name?" the creature said, completely oblivious to his 'anxiety attack'.

"Lux! It's Lux!"

"That's a cool name! Never heard of that before. Maybe when she gets back, I can ask my mom if she's heard of it?"

"I know that we're all just getting acquainted, but we should really head back now." the brown-haired figure said, already through the only exit from the room. Asriel carried Lux through as well, following after his companion. They traversed through a hallway that led straight forward to a small turn. As they cleared the next room, a question popped back into Lux's brain that he wasn't able to finish asking before.

"Um, so...your a Monster, huh?"

Asriel turned to Lux, the same smile present on his face.

"Yup. And you're a Human, I'm sure. _Chara's_ human, too! She fell down the same way you did three months ago. Well, without the vines, of course." Asriel admitted, earning him a look from the human herself.

 _How can any human possibly fall so far down a hole like that and live-_

That's when it hit him. Lux shot his eyes back to Chara with surprise. It was just then they entered through a new room. An unexpected sheer power hit Lux in the form of light. He instinctively squinted his eyes before he managed to bring them fully open again. His eyesight gave him the luxury of seeing the beautiful change of atmosphere the room displayed.

Ahead of them were an enormous pile of red, fall-like leaves, all bunched together in the far center. To the right and left of them lay stairs that both led to an elevated floor where another entrance awaited.

"Wow," Lux said, his mouth open wide in amazement.

"Yeah, looks cool doesn't it? Chara had the same reaction when I first brought her through here." Asriel said in hindsight.

This brought his thoughts back to the other human. The much-needed lighting finally did him justice, seeing that this 'Chara' was indeed a human. A bit hesitant at first, Lux built up the strength to talk to her.

"Hey, um...Chara. So how did you end up here?"

She gave him a quick glance before moving up the stairs with Asriel right behind her.

"I'd rather not talk about that now."

"Oh...okay. Sorry for asking."

"It's okay," Chara replied, turning around abruptly with a wide smile on her face. It kinda creeped Lux out, if he had to be honest.

Lux gazed at the ground for a few seconds before Asriel took notice.

"Are you okay?"

Snapping his head up, he replied, "Yeah, yeah...I'm fine...but..."

Asriel seemed to have begun listening in intently.

"...This place..."

The three of them passed through the passage into another area.

"It shouldn't..."

"Shouldn't what?"

There were two decently small gaps filled with water ahead of them. They stretched from one side of the wall to the other, a constructed bridge across each. They kept moving forward.

Lux wavered before finishing his words.

"...Shouldn't be real."

Asriel's widened eyes store into Lux's before he turned to face forward again. He lowered his head slightly and closed his eyes. "Chara told me that humans stopped believing a long time ago..."

"But.."

Asriel turned back to Lux.

"You guys proved to me that isn't the case."

Asriel gave a smile in response.

"Were almost there, Lux."

Another 3 minutes passed before they finally arrived at the door of their home. Or at Asriel and Chara's home. Lux still had absolutely no idea where he was progressing or what he was truly getting himself into. The trio passed by a tall, beautiful tree plentiful of colorful red leaves - the same as the ones they saw earlier.

In front of the was another set of stairs that led to a decent-sized cottage house. The lights from inside radiated from the windows through spaces not covered by the curtains. Chara was up the stairs before Asriel and Lux took the first step. She turned to face them from above, holding the door open.

"Come on." she said motioning her hand inside.

Asriel grinned and secured his support on Lux's body, helping him up the stairs and into the house. As they went through the door, Lux immediately noticed the difference compared to the outside. The walls were a vibrant beige, as opposed to the outside's purple and dark color, and the floorboards were laid down in a rectangular pattern.

As Lux looked around in wonder at the criminally well-kept house, Asriel moved him down the corridor to the right. Chara walked past them fast enough to be able to open the first door they encountered.

"Thanks, Chara." Asriel remarked. Chara chose to lean against the wall as he supported Lux to the bed of the room. He made sure to take off his satchel and asked Asriel to slider it under it. Lux relaxed himself on top of it and immediately felt rejuvenated.

"Wow, this is really soft!" Lux said, easily amazed. He accidentally moved his right leg the wrong way in the process of his excitement and gave him a jolting sharp pain.

"Ow!"

"Yeah, my mom makes sure to keep our beds extra soft. She says it keeps you young and your back flexible! But it doesn't automatically heal leg injuries, though, so sorry." Asriel joked. He placed himself on the side of the bed, making sure not to disturb Lux in his current state.

"Heh, that's fine. Well actually, that would have been pretty cool. So where is your mom anyway?" Lux said, relaxing his head against a pillow.

"Oh! She's out shopping with our dad. She told us to stay put until they got back. They both keep reminding us to think of their absence as a test of independence, but I'm sure we'd be fine on our own, right Chara?"

Chara gave Asriel a smile and a quick nod, focusing her attention back on to the floor.

Lux wanted to ask what was wrong, but Asriel intercepted his thoughts with a question of his own. One that was inevitable.

"So Lux? How did you end up falling down here in the first place?"

Lux's felt a sudden uneasiness in response to the sentence. His subconscious worries about how he was going to get back home and how he would never be found came creeping back into his mind. He struggled to find a structured way to explain his story, but eventually, he did.

"I...I was actually searching for this place for a good while, believe it or not. And...well, deep down I wasn't expecting to find it. And to be honest...I'm kinda scared." Lux admitted, trying to hold back the build up of tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

He didn't want to cry, but the thought of his parents and his friends; he couldn't bare to picture how they would react when they discovered him gone.

Asriel's expression showed one of care and compassion as she got off of the bed to stand directly in front of him.

"Don't worry Lux. No matter what happens, we'll be here for you. Then maybe one day...we'll get you back." Asriel tried to assure him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Lux smiled as a singular tear escaped from his eye.

"Y-yeah...you're right."

Just then, they heard the front door give out a creaking noise as it opened.

"Asriel! Chara! We're back!" an adult, feminine voice called out.

"And you won't believe the discount I got on this watering pot!" another voice, more masculine, said behind the first one.

Asriel's eyes lit up with excitement. "It's mom and dad! Lux, I'll tell them you're here and I can get my mom to heal you!"

Asriel turned swiftly to face the door, rushing forward and opening it.

"Wai-"

Before Lux could even finish, he was out of the room.

" _Mom! Dad! You won't believe who we found. Please, come here, I'll show you!"_

" _Hmm? You found someone, son?"_

Lux barely heard the words beyond the door, but suddenly felt the urge to look towards Chara. Her eyes were on him, but quickly zipped back to the ground once she realized he took notice.

The door to their room opened with a quick motion to reveal two more much taller figures with Asriel in front of them. The first was of a wider bodily build with facial hair and was wearing a purple cape. The second was a bit smaller compared to the first; more feminine in appearance, and sported a long, bluish robe with a strange insignia in the center. They both, like Asriel, resembled anthropomorphic goats.

The two adult monsters stood frozen in time at the sight of Lux, their expressions a bit more than surprised.

"See guys? It's another human! Crazy right?" Asriel said, turning to his parent's astonished faces.

"Uh...hi?" Lux said nervously, waving his hand to them. _I'm going to die here._

The only reaction Lux got was the taller monster releasing his tightened grip on his watering-pot, letting it hit the ground with a loud * **CLANG** *.


	5. Memory

"Does this hurt?"

"Youch!"

"Oh, my. Sorry about that, child."

Asriel's mother carefully examined Lux's strained leg, trying to focus on a specific part of the injury. She placed her hands on his right leg and a blue aura began weakly emitting around them. Lux felt the immediate effect, the soreness slowly fading until he felt eventually felt the pain subside.

"Hey, I think you did it. Thank you so much!" he thanked, lifting his head from the pillow.

Asriel's mother looked away in modesty. "Oh, it was nothing. I'm actually a bit rusty when it comes to healing with magic, eheh!"

"Yeah..."

"..."

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence that fell upon the room and everyone's eyes were on Lux. Chara was the only one whose attention was placed someplace else, choosing to quietly motion her feet left and right on their heels.

"So, I didn't catch both of your names?" Lux began, mentally wiping away sweat for breaking the quiet.

Asriel's parents perked up at the question. "Oh! Of course. How silly of us not to introduce ourselves!" Asriel's mom said, chuckling.

"I am _Toriel_ , and it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Great to meet you as well. My name is _Asgore."_

Lux paused suddenly at the mention of their names. They...struck him a certain way.

"Would you mind telling us yours, dear?" Toriel asked sweetly, breaking Lux from thoughts.

"Right, right. Sorry. My name is Lux."

Toriel's eyes widened at his reveal and she gave out a soft laugh. "Well that's an interesting name. I've never heard of such a unique name before."

"Gee, thanks."

Asriel looked towards Lux with a grin. "I guess she's never heard of it before after all."

Toriel and Asgore both gave out small laughs as they continued to awkwardly stare at the newest human. Lux couldn't bare to go through another unconformable moment of silence, so he just cut to the chase.

"So, you're both probably wondering how I got here." Lux began, looking down nervously.

"Very much, child."

"You betcha."

Sighing, Lux tried to remember the way he first told Asriel, but realized that he could just bring it down to more simplified terms.

"Hmm...how about we discuss this over a little meal? I know it's quite late, but this is the perfect exception. It is an excellent way to properly greet our new guest." Toriel suggested, rising from a chair that they had pulled up earlier. Asgore did the same, following behind her as they grew closer to the door.

"I will prepare something simple for us to consume, so please, wait here. I want it to be a surprise for our new guest. That means no spoiling the surprise, you two!" Toriel jokingly pointed at Asriel and Chara in a playfully mocking fashion as she left the room with a smile.

Just before Asgore closed the door, he kneeled down to pick up his watering pot and he turned around to face the three, eying Lux specifically. "I think you'll love what she has in store."

And with that, the door closed.

Lux un-admittedly felt intimidated by those words. _Okay. Your just being overly anxious. They've been nothing but kind to you so far, so just be grateful._

"Oh, man! You're going to absolutely freak when you eat it! I can't wait to see your reaction, Lux!" Asriel claimed, jumping back on the bed.

"Really? Then you could tell me?"

"Nope. Mommy said not to spoil the surprise!'

"C'mon, please?"

Asriel responded by puffing his cheeks and mocking the action of holding his breath.

Lux's mind began to imagine what exactly it was the best that he could. _What do Monsters eat down here? I sure hope it's not Humans. No, that's stupid! Chara's still alive! And they seem nice enough. If a monster's benevolence is exactly how the old book describes them as then I should be able to trust them._

Asriel and Lux passed most of the time playing around with the toys in the room. Asriel beckoned Chara to join but she repeatedly told him that she wasn't the 'toy-playing' type. Asriel huffed in defiance at this, but eventually found a game they could all play.

"How about that rock-paper-scissor game you taught me? We haven't played that in a while." Asriel offered, getting up and walking towards Chara.

Chara seemed upbeat at the mention of the old classic.

"Okay."

She arose from sitting against the wall and joined the two in the center of the room.

"Alright Lux, so here's how you play-"

"Actually, I already know how to play this game. It's known worldwide on the surface."

Asriel's eyes widened in bewilderment. "Really? That's just awesome!"

The three formed a triangle, each of them holding a closed fist over their other opened hand.

"Alrighty!" Asriel began, "Same time. Rock..."

Their balled-up hands impacted their open ones.

"Paper..."

They impacted a second time.

"Scissors!"

Asriel, Chara and Lux looked down towards the three pair of hands. Asriel chose rock, Lux chose paper, and Chara chose scissors. Asriel gave out a small cry of victory as he viewed Chara's choice.

"Ha! Rock beats scissors, Chara!"

"But paper beats rock!" Lux countered.

"I think were supposed to go again." Chara clarified, causing Asriel's confusion.

"Since there are three of us now, we caused a triangle effect and nobody won; paper beats rock, rock beats scissor, and scissor _cuts_ paper." she explained, empathizing the word 'cut.'

Asriel took a moment to think, pressing his thumb and pointer fingers up against his chin before his brain finally caught up. "Oh yeah, you're so right! I get it now. I guess I'm used to only playing with Chara."

Lux couldn't lie. He actually forgot too.

"Now, let's try this again," Lux said.

"Rock..."

"Paper..."

"Scissors!"

"...Aw man!"

Asriel huffed in defeat as he crossed his arms.

"No fair, Chara. You _almost always_ choose scissors!"

Chara giggled softly at his step-brother. "Looks like me and Lux tied up."

Both Chara and Lux had chosen scissors.

"Heh, so me and you are tied up, Chara." Lux said, pointing out the obvious.

"I'll try to go easy on you." she replied with a grin, extending her hands.

"Oh, it's so on." Lux countered with a grin of his own.

It seemed as if Chara was glaring daggers at him as they began the final round.

 _Asriel said that she has a habit of picking scissors...and since she's aware that I know this, she'll most likely choose something different!_

"Rock..."

"Paper..."

"Alright, you three! Everything's nearly set, so come join us at the dinner table!" Toriel's voice suddenly sounded from far away.

"Talk about a dramatic cliffhanger," Lux said, turning towards Asriel, who nodded in agreement.

Chara was the first to the door, having already opened it. "We'll settle this later," she stated, passing through it. Asriel and Lux followed suit.

...

...

Asgore, Asriel, Chara and Lux all sat at the table. Asgore sat to the right of Lux (which kinda intimidated him) with Asriel to Lux's left. Chara chose to sit in the middle, leaving one more seat for Toriel. As they waited for the 'surprise meal', Asgore decided to start a conversation. "So, how old are you, Lux? You seemed to be around the same size as Chara."

"Oh, I'm 12 years old. My birthday's actually in another three weeks." Lux revealed, a sour thought resigning within his mind. He would probably miss this one...and the next one...and...he needed to find a way back.

"Cool, Lux! I'm 10 as of now, but I'll get older soon too!" Asriel said excitedly. "And you know what's crazy?"

"What?"

"Chara and I are the same age!"

Asgore laughed in a soft, hardy tone. "Yep. When we first found out, we were intrigued as well. It was quite the convenience!"

"Do I hear laughter?" Toriel's voice questioned from inside the kitchen. "Make sure not to make any gags until I get there!"

Asgore chuckled, leaning his head back towards her direction. "We wont, Tori-dear!"

Lux felt more at peace after witnessing the gentle and rather humorous side of Asriel's family. Actually, it seemed to be the only side to him. Everyone seemed to be content with his arrival. However, there were things still awaiting to be revealed; things that he still didn't know. An amazing smell suddenly caught him off his guard, prompting him to turn towards the kitchen with an unquenchable interest.

Toriel emerged from the kitchen with a glass plate balanced in each hand. They seemed to be holding slices of pie. She approached Lux's side and held the two choices out for him to see. "Would you prefer butterscotch or cinnamon?" she asked with a cheeky smile.

"What about us?" Asgore whined.

Toriel turned to him with a sharp glare. "Guest first, **Asgore.** "

Asgore visibly flinched at his wife's aggressiveness, causing Asriel to press his hands against his mouth to hold in his laughter.

"I-I was only kidding, sweetie!"

Toriel's expression of criticism changed, a more fitting giggle leaving her mouth. "Oh, ehehehe! Of course dearie."

The goat mom's reaction caught Lux off guard as well. His attention was, however, immediately brought back to the two decisions in front of him. "Please do take your time." Toriel reminded him.

They both had the aroma of heaven's grace. Lux couldn't help but remember the few times he did get to eat pie. Thanksgiving and out in restaurants. Truly, his favorite type was key-lime pie, but he knew exactly what was runner-up.

"Butterscotch. Definitely butterscotch." Lux answered.

Toriel's face lit up with delight. "Oh, good choice, Lux! Enjoy." she said merrily as she set down the plate with the butterscotch pie in front of him. She made her way back to the kitchen to retrieve more slices for the rest of the family.

He was finally going to figure out what all of the hype was about. The fork was already stuck cleanly inside of the dessert. He pulled it out and brung it back down at the pie, taking a decent piece of it and slowly bringing it to his mouth. Everyone's eyes were on him, as he could see in his peripheral vision.

The reaction was instantaneous.

"OH WOW!"

Asriel's usual wide grin appeared back on his face. "Great, isn't it?"

Lux couldn't help but take another bite. "It's amazing."

Toriel couldn't have felt more honored. "Thank you, Lux. It's really not all that great," she replied, approaching to take a seat next to her husband with a mild flushing of modesty just unnoticeable on her face.

"Nonsense! This is the best pie I've ever tasted. Bewildering as always, Tori." Asgore countered, eagerly taking another bite. His compliments only furthered her modest thinking.

"Oh, Gorey. Thank you too."

A few moments of pie-eating took place before Asriel drew attention towards the main reason of their mealtime. "So Lux, you gonna tell us how you arrived into the Underground?"

As soon as he heard the question, the newest Human felt as if he were just about to give a speech in front of thousands. As simple as the explanation could be broken down, he still felt an unpleasing and non-existent pressure on his chest. He gave out a silent exhale and began.

"I think I owe it to you all to explain how I got here...so here I go."

Everyone at the table remained quiet and listened...except for Chara. She seemed indifferent.

"I was at home and...was pretty obsessed with the legend about Monsters. I had always loved exploring and mysteries-solving and I guess it kinda shows now that I'm here, heheh..."

A small paused ensued, and Toriel kindly beckoned him to continue.

"Go on."

Another sigh from Lux.

"I did my research. And I somehow found out about Mt. Ebott and the relations between it and a mountain close to my own home..."

This statement surely caught the attention of Chara, her eyes now aligning directly with Lux's.

"...so I set out. At midnight, I left my home while my mom and dad were sleep and set out to find Mt. Ebott's entrance. It wasn't long before I got lost. It was really dark and there was no way I would have made it back home before sunrise, so I kept on with my search. And I eventually did find it. I found my way through the cave paths and tried to snap a few photos for proof."

Toriel let out a silent gasp with a hand against her mouth upon hearing the part about Lux leaving without his parent's permission.

"It was only when I tried to take a picture of the mountain's massive hole that I put myself into any real danger. I tried using my camera's flash to see if I could get anything on my camera. It was then that I must have got my foot caught in some vines and then I tripped and fell here. And...that's how I ended up here."

Everyone at the table sat silently before Asgore coughed and spoke up. "I'm so sorry that you got more than you asked for. But you can be sure that we'll gladly care for you until...further notice. Please, your welcome to stay with us for as long as you need."

Toriel nodded in agreement. "I'm completely in agreement. Is this okay with you?"

Lux thought back to just hours ago. He was just on his way into the forest. _What if I never went into the forest? What if I just stayed home? ...What if I never get see my parents again?_

But what was he to do? He couldn't just climb back out of the mountain. And he wasn't going home for a long time. As much as he didn't want to, he had already accepted this and was grateful for a family willing to care for him in the meantime. Even if they were Monsters banished into the 'Underground' for hundreds of years. Lux had made his decision.

"Yes. It's best this way. Then maybe I can find a way back. I'll have to sooner or later."

Asgore cringed on the inside in response to his last bit. _He doesn't know? He doesn't know that it's not possible to leave without breaking the barrier?_

Despite this, Asgore kept a joyful grin on his face. "Haha! I'm sure you'll be just fine. Until then, your apart of this family. Or...a "piece" of this family. Like this PIE!" he joked, giving Lux a solid, but soft pat against his back.

The impact was yielding, but contact immediately triggered a foreign feeling in his gut.

 _Huh?_

Almost immediately, a blinding white overwhelmed his vision and everything quickly began fading into darkness. His head impacted the table, just beside his plate. He couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He could only listen to the slowly fading voices of the Monster's around him.

" _Oh my! ASGORE what did you DO!?"_

" _I didn't do it that hard!"_

" _I think he passed out..."_

" _..."_

And then everything went completely black.

...

...

...

" _I'm glad you two could join me, today. My wife is unable to attend, unfortunately, as she is bedridden with a mild sickness. Despite this misfortune, I'm sure we'll do just fine."_

" _Oh course. Now, what is to be discussed?"_

" _Well...as you are aware, there are a few flaws within the education system between Humans and Monsters."_

" _I understand. This has also been a problem that has been stuck in the back of my mind as well."_

" _Yes. It is good to know that we're on the same page. Now we all know that a Monster's and a Human's lifestyle are different from each other, and both require certain measures for proper learning."_

" _We're listening."_

" _I am suggesting that separating Monsters and Humans into their respective groups in schools would be a great start to organizing their learning culture."_

" _Are you sure this is wise?"_

" _I wish I could formulate some other way. I'm completely open to suggestions on your part."_

" _I think we should spend a little more time deciding what's the best decision for both of our kind."_

" _I suppose you're right..."_

" _Is this all?"_

" _Actually, there is something else far more important that I feel the need to discuss. It has truly been a burden on my mind for having not spoken of it any sooner. And I'm sure it is a worry to you two as well."_

" _What is this burden you speak of?"_

" _It is the true reason I have called you two to this meeting. It is about a Monster's ability to absorb a Human's soul."_

...

...

...

Are you okay?

Hey! Please wake up.

"Lux!"

He awoke with a start, abruptly inhaling in a a deep breath of air. Vision slightly blurred, Lux's eyes cleared up to realize that he was back inside of Asriel's bedroom on top of his bed with his family all around him.

The worried expressions of Asgore and Toriel subsided as soon as he awoke, Toriel approaching to place a hand on his forehead. "Oh Lux, your awake! You scared us all half to death!"

Lux was about to say something but a headache suddenly overcame him, stopping him in the process. _Ugh...what...happened?_

"Can you stand, child?"

Lux's conscience had just fully recuperated when Toriel spoke that question. "Ye-yeah. It's fine. I'm alright guys."

"What happened?" Asriel asked, the same expression of worry plastered onto his face. Although his memory was hazy, Lux could still recall the unexpected experience he had just witnessed. But he wasn't sure about explaining it to them, as this would just complicate an already event-filled night. As confused and curious for answers just as they all were, he just wanted some much-needed sleep.

"I-I was just so tired...and I must have slipped into a deep slumber or something. Hitting my head on the table must have knocked me out though, eheh..."

He lied.

"Lux...are you _absolutely_ sure your alright?" Toriel asked, her dark-red eyes looking directly through his. Almost as if her motherly senses could _feel_ him lying.

"I'm sure. Look, it's been a long night...I just need some sleep and I should be up and right by tomorrow." Lux directed his eyes to Asgore, Chara and Asriel, too nervous to keep them on Toriel for too long.

After a slight pause, Toriel stepped back from the bed. "Alright. You deserve some rest. But please...if you need anything, don't hesitate to asks us." Toriel finished, giving a feint smile.

Almost instantaneously, a question came to Lux's mind. "Um, where exactly do I sleep?"

Asriel perked up with an answer. "Oh! You can sleep with me! There should be enough space for the both of us."

Toriel and Asgore smiled at their son's kindness. Opening the door leading into the hallway, the King and Queen made their way out with Chara behind them. Toriel flicked the room's light switch off. "Goodnight Chara. Goodnight mom and dad. See you in the morning." Asriel said as Lux scooted over to give room for Asriel.

"Goodnight sweetie."

"See ya in the morning, kiddo."

"...see you tomorrow."

Chara slowly closed the door to Asriel's room until it shut completely, leaving the two with nothing but darkness.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as Lux stared off at a ceiling he couldn't see. Asriel's voice brought his focused daydream to an end. "I'm glad I got the chance to meet you, Lux."

Lux turned to his side to find Asriel staring up at the ceiling just as he was. "Same to you. You've been nothing but nice to me all this time. You and Chara."

Another eerie silence.

"Hey Asriel?"

"Huh?"

"Can I tell you something?"

"Sure. Anything."

"If I tell you, can you promise me you won't say anything to your parents? I want to make sure I'm sane before you do."

"Heheh...I promise I won't. What is it?"

"There's this book I found on the surface about a war between Monsters and Humans in the past. It's called the War of Humans and Monsters...maybe I'll show you some time. But there's something else.

Lux tried to remember the weird anomaly as accurately as possible before continuing on.

"When I passed out at the dinner table...It wasn't exactly because I was tired."

"What do you mean?"

"I has some sort of a dream. Everything was hazy...but the voices...there were three of them. But two sounded creepily like your parent's. And they were talking about something involving education and Human souls or something."

Lux felt Asriel shift under the covers.

"Woah...are you sure it was them?"

"I can't say that I can. But I also can't say that I can't."

"...That's creepy."

Lux gave a silent laugh. "I know. But seriously, don't tell them. I'm not sure if I want to say anything yet."

"You've got my word."

"Thanks, Asriel."

"Sure."

Lux laid on his side, facing the wall. "Goodnight Asriel. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight."

...

...

...

Chara brought her ear from the door, pausing her movement to take in what she had just heard. She stood motionless for a short amount of time before slowly walking back to her room.


	6. I Don't Want To Talk About It

**_Thank you all for taking part in this crazy joyride called CHRONOTALE! And thanks for the 1000 views! Enjoy this next piece of a the puzzle that has yet to be finished._**

* * *

Lux slowly opened his still blurry eyes from his slumber, finding himself staring at the beige wall he had fallen asleep facing. _Asriel?_ His first instinctive action was to face the opposite direction. Doing so, he found Asriel's form absent.

"Huh." Lux gave out a small yawn and stretched out his arms and legs, reminded of the day before when practically his whole body was strained with sore pain from the fall. _I have to thank Toriel again for healing me._

Arising, he lowered his feet down, making contact with the ground...and something else. Lux lifted his foot to find the strap of his satchel sticking halfway out from beneath the bed. Thoughts began racing back into his mind, quickly reminding him of the contents inside. Well, one at least.

"The book..." he whispered to himself.

He rushed to grab the strap and lifted the bag, inserting his hand in to pull out the archaic publication. His hand moved across its texture, ending at the right-end. Gripping the cover's borderline, he turned the cover to reveal the pages. His eyes scanned through the middle section, effectively taking in the words he had already studied.

Then it struck him.

"... _I called King Asgore and Queen Toriel in to discuss a particular subject about a year after my sanction as the new king. It was on the difficulties in negotiating a method of education to effectively teach Monsters and Humans the basics of life in their cultures respectively, as opposed to risk having their methods brewed and disordered. But alas, this was not the case I was truly invested in._

 _As short as the discussion on the topic was, I quickly revealed my true worries to them. The power a Monster could possess, lest one ever come in contact with the SOUL of a deceased Human. The expressions on their faces after I said that...it showed it all. They knew this war would start way before it had even begun."_

 _ **King**_ _Asgore...and.._ _ **.Queen**_ _Toriel?_

"So you're tellin' me..." Lux quietly mumbled to himself, shutting the book closed. "...that Toriel and Asgore are...royalty?"

 _No, no, no, no, no, this book is hundreds of years old. It has to be. How old are they exactly? This can't be..._

Lux stood idle for what seemed to him to be the longest time. Placing the book back into the bag, he slid it back under the bed. He eventually drew the strength to approach the door and make his way out of the room. The smell of bacon and eggs immediately drew is attention to the kitchen, finding Toriel coming out of it to set two plates on the dinner table only to retreat back into it. Lux took this opportunity to advance, waiting beside the table for her to come back out.

As she did, his presence took her by surprise. "Oh! Hello, Lux. You startled me! How was your sleep?"

"It was great, Toriel." Lux replied, trying not to let out a plethora of questions.

"That's wonderful, sweetie."

"Heh, yeah...um, do you know where Asriel is?"

Toriel gave him a warm smile. "He's with Chara in the cave entrance."

Lux was just on his way right after he gave her a 'thank you' when she added, "And make sure you don't bring back any more human children, **got it dear**?"

Lux turned around, caught off guard by her unusual comment.

"I-I won't?"

Toriel continued to give him a serious stare before her lips twitched slightly, abruptly morphing into a more familiar grin. "Hehehe! I'm sorry, Lux. I was just being facetious."

 _Facetious?_

Lux looked even more confused than before.

"It means I was only kidding."

A light clicked in his brain as he turned to head toward the cave. "Oh, I get it now. Thanks again, Toriel."

"Of course, dear."

...

...

" _Alright, Chara. Are you ready?"_

" _Do your creepy face!"_

" _..."_

" _AHHHH! He he he!"_

" _Oh, wait! I had the lens cap on..."_

" _What! You're not going to to it again...?"_

" _Come on, quick tricking me!"_

" _Ha ha!"_

Lux could hear the faint words echo away from the cave as he approached it. Passing through the entryway, he found the forms of Asriel and Chara sitting, staring up at the mouth that led to the surface. The sun rays shined down it like the beam of a flashlight and dropped down on them, effectively highlighting their presence.

Asriel heard the unintentional kicking of rocks as Lux approached, drawing him to turn around. "Hey, Lux!"

"Hey guys," he replied, eying two items in particular that reside to his far-left.

 _Oh lookie, my flashlight and shattered camera have been left untouched._

He ran to his belongings and grabbed the flashlight. Surprisingly, it still worked. He checked the camera and pulled out the unharmed memory card, leaving the broken remains behind.

Joining the two, Lux, Chara and Asriel all sat together as a group. "So you're saying that it's really impossible...crossing back to the other side of the barrier without the souls of several humans?" Lux asked, remembering what he read King Lorrad's book. The idea shook him the wrong way.

"Yeah...mom and dad explained it to me when I was a little younger. It's kinda a pain to see the light come from up there without really getting to see the full picture...Chara told me it was beautiful." Asriel shifted his feet, looking down at the ground.

"She's right. It's really amazing. But who's to say you won't get to experience it too one day?"

Asriel's face grew a bit brighter at hearing this.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. It would be the best wish I could ask for."

Lux laughed softly before looking towards the silent Chara. "Look, I know I asked you before...but how did you really-"

"I ran away from home," Chara interjected, her head rotating slightly to meet Lux in the corner of her vision.

"I couldn't stand being up there anymore, ya know?"

"Why not? Why did you run away, Chara?"

Chara gave out a somewhat unsettling chuckle.

"Because humanity is **dead**."

Lux double-took at the comment. He could tell that Asriel was growing uneasy as well. He stood silent for a moment, unsure of how to continue.

"What do you mean by that? Why-"

" **Enough!** "

Chara rushed to her feet and eagerly ran out of the cave.

"Chara, wait! Urgghh! This is my fault, I should apologize." Lux said to Asriel as he ran after her. Asriel followed suit.

Just as they opened the door to their home, they heard the door to Chara's room slam shut. Toriel leaned out of the kitchen in distress, unsure of what was going on. "What was that, you three?"

Lux stopped in front of Chara's bedroom door, panting from the long run with Asriel right behind him. "It's... Chara," Asriel gasped between breaths. "We...talked about her past."

"Oh dear...here, let me see if I could-"

"No, it's alright Ms. Toriel. This is my fault. I'll talk to her." Lux stated, giving her a reassuring and forced smile. Toriel store right at him and nodded understandably, returning to the kitchen.

Turning back towards Chara's door, he gave out a heavy sigh and knocked.

"Go away." her voice on the other end sounded.

"Chara...I'm sorry. Please, let's just talk about this."

" **NO**."

"Chara..."

No response.

Asriel's face saddened at the situation unfolding in front of them. "Maybe this is my fault. I should have told you that she didn't like her life up there."

Lux turned to him with a weighed down expression. "No, Asriel. You're completely innocent. This is my fault."

Facing the door once more, he asked one final question, nearly laughing at the thought of saying it now. "Well, can we at least finish our game of rock, paper, scissors?"

Lux could feel Asriel's dumbfounded eyes staring at the back of his head. The silence continued for a few more seconds before the door slowly creaked open just enough to see in a slither. Giving Asriel crossed fingers, Lux entered the room and shut the door behind him.

Asriel could hear the cushioning impacts of their fist against their hands behind the door as the game commenced. Then silence.

The door to Chara's room opened and out stepped Lux with his head lowered towards the floor.

"Who won?" Asriel asked eagerly.

"...Chara."

Asriel narrowed his eyes. "What did she choose?"

"Scissors."

...

...

Lux and Asriel sat at the dinner table, staring at their breakfast. "I sure do hope that Chara is alright. I wouldn't want her to arrive when her meal is cold." Toriel said with a bit of worry.

"Hey, mom? Can't you just heat it back up with your fire magic?" Asriel wondered. "I think you did that to mine before."

Toriel looked back at him in recognition of his statement. "Ah, I suppose you're correct. Well, either way, I hope Chara feels well soon enough to enjoy her morning breakfast."

"Me too..."

As if on cue, Asgore walked through the front door carrying two bags full of groceries. "I'm home everyone! Brought the syrup and butter you needed Tori."

Toriel placed two more plates on the table parallel to Asriel and Lux. "Thank you Asgore. Everything's almost set."

"Hey, guys?"

Asgore and Toriel averted their attention to the human. "Yes, Lux?"

He immediately regretted his decision to ask, but couldn't back down now.

"I-I have a confession...about what happened last night."

Asriel turned his head swiftly, staring at Lux. "You're telling them?" he whispered.

The two goat parents seemed to freeze in place, most likely out of worry. They both stepped towards the table and took seats in the chairs opposite of him and Asriel. "Is there something important you need to tell us?" Toriel asked, the expression on her face one of some sort of knowing.

"Last night...when I passed out...I wasn't tired. In fact, it was when Asgore's hand made contact with my back that I felt this...weird sensation throughout my body..."

Asgore and Toriel's expressions grew even more confused and more concerned than before. Lux heedfully continued.

"...It was then that I fell unconscious. I could hear your voices as my hearing slowly faded. Then...and you're not going to believe me...but I had this strange vision right after I-"

"What was this vision about?" Asgore cut in eagerly.

"Come now, Asgore. Let Lux explain at his own pace." Toriel consoled. "Please. Continue."

"Actually, I was just about to get to that. You see, I couldn't see anything, but the voices..." Lux stopped himself to ponder on how he would break it to them.

"They were talking about the education system between Humans and Monsters and how they could fix it or something like that."

Both Asgore and Toriel's eyes widened at hearing this- but only for a second.

"And...two of the voices...two of them sounded...just like you two." Lux finished.

"Okay. That quite enough."Asgore spoke abruptly. "I'm glad that you told us about your experience. But why didn't you tell us beforehand?"

"I-I thought you wouldn't believe me...it sounded so absurd at the time so I just figured-"

Asgore arose from his seat. "It's fine. I'm sure it was just a bad dream. Your falling here must've spooked you."

Toriel's eyes met her husband's for the slightest fraction of a second. "Asgore..."

"You'll have to excuse me for the time being...I forgot to water the garden this morning and I must attend to it quickly." Asgore replied with the slightest hint of sharpness. And with that, he left the house.

Everyone sat silently at the table for what seemed to be forever...before Toriel finally spoke up. "You'll have to forgive Asgore. He can be quite...unpredictable at times. He just loves his gardening!" she said with a somewhat fake laughing attempt. Her giggles slowed down to a halt before Lux got up from his chair, scooting it in.

"Where are you going, Lux?" Asriel asked, repeating the action.

"...I'm going to talk to Asgore about something...important. Don't worry Ms. Toriel, I'll be right back."

Before she could say anything, he was already running through the door of Asriel's room. Lux knew what he had to do. He hurriedly power walked up to the bed and pulled out the satchel from underneath, grabbing the ancient book that resided within it.

"There's more to this than their telling me." he said to himself.

He exited the bedroom and turned for the front door. Just before he left, he turned to Asriel.

"Please make sure to see if Chara's okay."

Then Lux was off.

...

...

Lux made his way through the corridors of the ruins, trying to find out which direction Asgore had gone off to. It took him a good three minutes to finally locate a room he hadn't fully noticed before. He slowly put his hand against the entrance walls as he entered only to find a beautiful array of yellow flowers displayed topped off with a kneeling Asgore in the center, facing away from him.

He felt a strong resistance to continuing forward, but Lux spoke up nonetheless.

"Hey, Asgore...is it okay if I join you?"

Asgore's form paused for a second before he moved his right arm into view, revealing a watering pot. He lowered the nozzle, water sprinkling downwards on the bright flowers. "Please, come in."

As Lux came forward, he looked up to notice that light from the surface was shining down into this room as well. "This is all very beautiful." Lux commented, gripping the ancient war book tightly.

"Yes. It took a while for even just one flower to sprout, but as they say, 'persistence is key'!" Asgore laughed...before growing ever more silent.

Lux had to get the point. "Asgore...I have to show you something. Do you mind?"

Asgore turned fully towards the human child, noticing the book that resided in between in arm and waist.

"Sure thing. What do have to show me?" he replied, pretending to not have noticed.

He slowly pulled the book into full view.

"This."

Lux approached the tall goat monster at a slow pace, finding himself standing right in front of the towering figure. "I discovered this before I fell down here...at my local library. I read through it at least two times already," he revealed, rapidly turning the pages before holding it out to Asgore.

"I figured you should read it yourself."

Asgore didn't want to read it. He refused to face anything that even remotely related to what this human had revealed to him earlier.

 _How could he have possibly known about that meeting...it's been so,_ _ **so**_ _long. Who is this kid?_

But what other choice did he have?

He smiled (as hard as it was for him) and accepted his offering, gently taking the book out of his hand. He read the title. _The War of Humans and Monsters_. He cringed on the inside. _Why? Why is he bringing the dreading memories back?_

As he opened the book, he stopped. Just for a moment. He practically forced himself to look at the beginning paragraph, slowly and gradually moving his vision over the words. He flipped the page. Then again. And again. He skipped a few pages. Then a few more.

In the end, he found that he wasn't even reading paragraphs anymore. Just a few key words and phrases.

 _Monsters._

 _Ongoing decisions._

 _Never again._

 _Struggling to decide._

 _The kindest rulers I've ever met._

 _Even as a king, I feel foolish._

 _Real monsters? I feel like one._

 _Sorry. I'm so sorry. Forgive me if you can._

Asgore store at the book as he closed it, his body acting as an unmoving statue. Lux stood quietly along with him before feeling the need to say something.

"I'm...sorry if I brung anything personal up. I can't possibly know anything close to pain compared to what two had to go through. I can understand if you want to get rid of the bo-"

"No," Asgore interjected. "I want you to keep it. Please." He turned around, his head lowered and engaging in an unknown thought.

"I want you to keep it...and let it be a testimony to the surface. Should we ever grasp the opportunity to leave this place...please see to it that this book is read to all of the world...so we may learn from past mistakes. The both of our kind." Asgore finished.

Lux felt a strange feeling of connection with him and the tall monster that stood before him. He felt as if he had a mission. He kinda did. It just felt too much for him. He had just arrived in an underground world long thought to not have existed, and already he was making a promise like this?

"Thank you."

Lux saw Asgore turn with a wide smile presented on his face as he said this.

"Of course, Asgore."

Asgore handed the book back and turned back to the flower garden. "I'll finish tending to the flowers. Tell Toriel I'll be right back up."

Lux nodded and walked back out of the garden, looking back for only a moment's notice before continuing back home.

Asgore was left alone for a second time. He lowered his right hand to rest his watering pot on the ground, choosing to replace it by picking a single Golden flower from it's roots. He held it loosely in the palm of his hand, gazing at the symmetric blossom.

The palm of his hand was suddenly engulfed in a bright red-orange flame; the golden flower now burnt to a crisp.

...

...

"You said he looked sad, right?" Chara asked Asriel with the brightest smile on her face.

Asriel looked down at his feet. "Yeah, he looked pretty sad. Lux went after him to talk to him about the book he had with-"

Asriel paused but it was too late. "What book?" Chara asked, trying to act genuinely curious.

 _Dang it. Lux'll probably get mad at me for telling her this._

"I shouldn't speak about it. Lux said it was pretty ancient..."

This only seemingly furthered her interest. "Come on, Az. You can tell me. It's not THAT big of a deal, is it?"

Asriel remained quiet for a while with his eyes off of Chara before he finally decided. "Okay. It's called the War of Humans and Monsters and it's about the war between them a long time ago and...that's all I really know."

"Hmm...interesting. Well, I have an idea on how we can make dad feel better." Chara said, bringing her arms behind her back.

"Really? What do you have in mind?"

Chara giggled to herself on the inside.

"We bake him a pie."

...

...

"Are you sure you're supposed to add buttercup flowers inside? I thought mom said it should be cups of butter..."

Chara smiled at Asriel, getting down from the stool that helped her reach the supplies. "I'm completely sure. This should make the pie extra special. What do you think he'll say when he finds out? He absolutely _loves_ flowers."

When she put it like that, Asriel couldn't help but to agree. "Yeah, you're right! He's gonna be so excited!"

As Chara grabbed the buttercups she picked just minutes before, she spread them evenly among the pan. Adding the remaining ingredients, she leaned against the nearby wall. "Now we wait."

A few minutes later, they heard the front door open. Chara peered out of the kitchen with a wide smile. "Hey, Lux. We're baking a pie for Asgore! Is he okay?"

Lux made his way into the kitchen to join them, smelling a familiar scent. "Smells pretty good. You're doing this all by yourselves?"

"Yep," Asriel replied with a grin matching that of Chara's. "It'll make the surprise soo much more...of a surprise!"

Lux store at them both with an unreadable expression. "Alright...as long as you don't burn the house down."

It wasn't long before Toriel took heed of the smell coming from the kitchen. "Oh heavens! Are you two baking a pie all by yourselves?" she questioned, rushing into the kitchen. Admittedly, she expected to find the kitchen scorched and set aflame, but instead came into a relatively clean environment.

"Oh, thank goodness...now, now, you three; any hazardous activities without the supervision of an adult is forbidden. You two should know better." Toriel scolded, Chara and Asriel in particular.

"Sorry mom...we just wanted to surprise dad with a pie to make him feel better! Remember when you first taught us the basic steps to making one?" Asriel reminded her, pointing out the essentials that lay on the counter.

Toriel blinked twice. "A pie? For daddy? That's...very sweet of you guys."

"Oh, I don't deserve any credit. It was them that put in all of the effort. I just now found out!" Lux clarified jokingly, secretly making it understandable should the oven ever explode.

"Alright, you three. But please, do let me know from now on should anything bad happen. I don't want you two to put yourselves into any harm, okay?"

Chara, Lux and Asriel all nodded in unison.

The four of them waited for Asgore to get back, their patience rewarded as they saw the front door slowly swing open. "I'm back, everyone! And what is that amazing smell?" Asgore said, the door closing behind him.

"We baked you a pie, daddy! To help you feel better!" Asriel called out, bringing his arm around Chara's shoulder. "It was Chara's idea."

Asgore smiled at them, coming towards them as Toriel handed Asriel the slice of warm pie to place on the table.

"You kids are just too kind. Thank you. All of you." Asgore said, sitting down in a seat. "But I just can't enjoy this buy myself! Why don't you all join me?"

"We figured it be best for you to take the first bite since this is all for you," Toriel explained.

"Well, that's fine. Here we go!"

Asgore brung the fork to his mouth, savoring the first impressions of how it tasted. "This is amazing! Are you sure Toriel didn't help you three, cause this is just as go-"

Right out of the blue, a bitter aftertaste started to irritate Asgore's throat, effectively causing him to cough.

"Oh, dear. Are you choking honey?" Toriel asked worriedly, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Asgore rose to get up and immediately fell to his knees, the coughing gaining in intensity.

"Oh my goodness! Gorey? Asgore, please! What's going on?"

Asriel left the side of an unnoticeably still smiling Chara to help support his father, Lux following him.

"You didn't * _cough_ *, think to put * _cough_ *...any **buttercups** in this here pie * _cough_ *, did you?" Asgore spoke between his harsh hacking episodes.

Asriel froze, a pang of pure guilt stuck on his face. "Oh, no..."

Asgore collapsed once more, his hands only able to support him for so long. "Please, Toriel...call the doctor." he managed to get out before falling unconscious onto the floor.

"What...what did you PUT IN THERE?"


	7. I'll Go Get The Flowers

It took three days of treatment to go by before Asgore gained his strength again.

He had struggled through those agonizing days with fevers, coughing and severe hallucinations; but his love for his family persevered through even stronger.

In total, it had been 3 weeks since the whole ordeal went down.

Lux had been introduced to the Underground as the second human to have fallen down. More cheers of hope and excitement rang out that day.

...

...

Toriel brung the strap of her purse around her shoulder as she left her bedroom. Two little children were already outside of the door waiting for her. Asriel and Chara.

"Now, are you sure you don't want to join us to the market?"

"No thanks, mom. I wanna stay here with Chara."

"Alright." Toriel said as she turned her eyes down the hallway. "Lux, are you ready?"

A silence was all that was present for the moment before a small creaking of a door was heard. Lux slowly edged out of Asriel's room, making sure his head was the first thing that came into view. Eventually, his full body came into sight, revealing himself to be wearing a striped, green sweater...just like Asriel.

"Ugh, Toriel? Why do I have to wear this? No offense, Asriel. It's looks cool on you."

"Non taken." Asriel replied as he flashed him a grin.

"Now, now. There's nothing wrong with trying something new. You didn't fall down here with a bag full of your own clothes, did you?"

Lux stood silent after hearing this.

"Point taken. Now, don't fret, my should be another fun experience for you. You should already be familiar with the Underground by now, so it shouldn't be an unfamiliar experience...as opposed to last time."

"Oh, come on Ms. Toriel!", Lux replied. "You can't blame a human for getting scared by a talking VEGASTABLE!"

Toriel's only response was to give him a somewhat stern look.

"...Sorry."

Toriel gave out a sigh, leaving towards the door. "Come now, Lux. Asriel, Chara, we'll be right back."

Both Asriel and Chara nodded before they closed the front door behind him. Asriel couldn't help but let out a small laugh, maneuvering the blinds out of the way to see his mother and Lux walking away, hand in hand.

Bringing his mind back from the two, he looked at Chara.

"I think he looks pretty good."

Chara giggled along.

Then Asriel saw that the door to his mom's room was cracked open just a bit, immediately reminding him of his father. He walked past Chara and reached Toriel's room.

"Hey, maybe daddy's up now."

As Asriel slowly pushed against the door, it inched open to reveal Asgore sitting at his desk, writing into a journal. He immediately noticed their presence, giving them his usual welcoming smile. "Why, howdy, you two! Was that Toriel and Lux that just left?"

"Yeah, not long ago." Asriel said. "What are you doing?"

Asgore widened his eyes and looked at his journal, then back at them. "Oh, I'm just writing a page in my daily journal! I make sure to do it every day. It helps me remember the past a lot easier, I'll tell you that!" he hardily joked.

Asriel approached to take a look at his most recent entry.

" _ **Another nice day, today!"**_ it read.

"Oh, okay. Well, me and Chara are going to go play in my room. See ya later dad." Asriel told him as he turned out of the door with Chara...who turned around to look at the tall goat monster.

"Bye father."

Asgore registered the smile on her face as...odd.

 _A little too wide of a smile...she must be havin' a nice day as well!_

Then she left.

...

...

"How did you know about all of that? About the meeting...that happened so long ago?"

Lux double-took at Toriel's sudden question. He should have known she would ask it sooner or later.

"I-I don't even know how. Asgore just made contact with me and I passed out after feeling this strange power. It was like a strange dream that you can't really remember...but I definitely heard your voices..." Lux explained.

Toriel looked at the ground, thinking to herself about something. It went silent for a while as they made they came within proximity of the store's location.

She brung her head back up and Lux and Toriel both made eye contact.

"Thank you."

Lux smiled along with her. "Any time."

Lux pressed close to Toriel's side as they walked through the Underground market doors. He felt the curious eyes of all the monsters the two passed as he attempted to hide behind Toriel's robe. She responded by patting his head softly.

"Please, child. It's okay. There's no need to be afraid. We've already introduced you to everyone here. Absolutely no need to worry."

" **HEY! Long time, no see!"**

Lux flinched slightly as Toriel turned around in curiosity. "Oh, my. _Gerson_! It's good to see your face again!"

An elderly tortoise dressed in archeologist attire with a tan pith halt approached with open hands. Both he and Toriel greeted each other with a friendly hug.

"I usually don't find you wondering around here much, Gerson. What have you been up to as of late?"

Gerson chuckled out a raspy laugh as he placed his hand on his hat. "I opened a small store in the Waterfall region. I been passing the time selling artifacts and what not. I enjoy it a lot!"

Lux moved his eyes up and down Gerson, noticing that his right eye remained closed. It was then when the tortoise monster turned his attention toward him.

"Looks like you brought the kid along!"

Toriel turned her head slightly at the human before snapping it back at her friend. "Oh, yes! Hehe! I thought it be a good idea to bring him along to give him more of an insight of the Underground. It can be quite bland sitting around at home all day."

"Of course," Gerson replied, staring down at Lux. "I see ya doin' great things kid. Make Toriel proud, alright?"

Lux hesitated, but feeling the kindness in his voice, he responded. "O-okay. I will."

Toriel was pleased by Lux's agreement to Gerson. It touched her big heart.

"Well, I'll have to let ya go. I'm sure you're pretty busy. Maybe stop by at my shop sometime, you too!" Gerson said as he turned to leave.

"Of course! You take care, Gerson."

Lux watched as the turtle monster walked off and out of the store.

 _Gerson? Who was that?_

"Okay!"

Toriel's sudden exclamation startled Lux out of his thoughts, causing him to cross his arms in frustration. _Do people have to always surprise me when I'm in the middle of thinking?_

He suddenly felt larger hands clasp his firmly. Lux looked up to see Toriel looking down on him with a big grin. "Let's make this shopping experience a bit more lively. How about we play a game?"

The goat woman knelt down to his size and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Um, sure? What exactly is it that we're playing?" Lux replied, unsure of the situation he was getting himself into.

Toriel closed her eyes momentarily, giggling to herself. "I usually do this with Asgore. Here's how it works: We both receive a list of groceries with an equal amount of items listed. The goal of the game is to find all of the items on the list and have the checked out before the other person can. It will be fun!"

Before Lux could get a word in, Toriel had already pulled two sheets of paper with the listed items, (seemingly out of nowhere) handing one to him.

 _How did she- if there are two lists...she was planing this beforehand wasn't she?_

"Alright, dear. Are you ready?" Toriel asked eagerly.

Lux shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I guess so-"

"Perfect! Ready, set, GO!"

Before he knew it, Toriel turned a corner and was gone.

Lux sighed and looked at the first item on his list.

"Crab Apple."

Lux skimmed the shelves and was about to leave to another section of the store when he unintentionally spotted a row of boxes containing Crab Apples...on the top shelves of the 9-foot display shelving.

Lux stood with his mouth agape at the absurd placement.

"Are you kidding? Who places items like this at the-"

Stopping himself, he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"This...this is going to take a while."

...

...

Asgore left his room and approached Asriel's, opening it with the usual smile planted on his face.

"I'm going to do my daily flower-watering business. You two stay out of trouble, okay?" he told them.

Asriel returned a smile of a similar caliber. "We won't dad!"

"Ha, I know you two won't. I'll be right back!" Asgore laughed as he subtly closed their door. Before he did, he noticed the same smile from earlier present on Chara's face.

"Yeah, we won't," Chara said.

 _That same grin...Chara's always been the jovial type!_

They both heard the front door close for the second time that day.

Chara immediately drew her eyes towards the bed, eying something under it in particular.

"Hey, Asriel?"

Asriel looked to Chara.

"Yeah?"

"Let's go the entrance, I want to talk about something."

Asriel perked up at the words in interest. "Uh, okay."

As Asriel went first through the door, Chara turned back inside. "Oh, I forgot something, I'll be right back."

She quickly made for the bed, looking underneath it to find the satchel. Lux's satchel. Smiling, she opened it to find the ancient war book. _The War of Humans and Monsters._

She pressed the book flat against her side as she left out of the room, making sure Asriel couldn't see. They left the house and proceeded to journey back through the ruins and to the cave entrance. They even passed by the garden Asgore resided in. Chara told him to make a little noise as possible as they went by. Just after she said this, Asriel nodded and immediately stepped on a crunchy red leaf.

Luckily, they were just past the entrance of the garden; however, they both could practically feel Asgore turn around.

"Hmm."

A few moments passed before Chara and Asriel let out their long-held breaths as quietly as possible. They continued towards their designation until they arrived. The light shone down the opening of the cave brighter than ever.

Asriel walked ahead of Chara to catch a better view of the huge, streaming ray of light that beamed down.

"Woah...I've never seen it so bright in here before." Asriel murmured.

Chara approached him from behind and tapped his shoulder. He curved around to see a book in her hand. "I needed to show you this."

"But-but that's Lux's and-"

Chara stepped closer. "I REALLY need to show you this."

Asriel closed his mouth and clenched it tightly as they both sat down and went through the pages; slowly.

" _It was only after my father's passing that I was crowned the future king of our dominant side of the country. And it was also during this period in time that I was personally introduced to the monarchs of the Monster kingdom: King Asgore and Queen Toriel."_

Asriel's eyes widen as he read his parent's names.

" _They were...an interesting pair. I haven't experienced a day in the time I knew them that they weren't smiling in some way or another. And their puns...they were plentiful and abundant in the meetings we had."_

"Why...why didn't Lux show me this? I-I thought this was just a book about the war..."

Chara tried to hold back a grin as she turned the page.

"Here, read this."

" _Sadly, this calm in the scheduled assemblages was not eternal and the discussions eventually grew serious. Much more serious. It is very well known that a Human's SOUL lingers for a good deal of time after death. There was an incident involving a Monster and a Human; both around the same age. The two had ventured into a largely forested area, and through some cause, the human became ill. This was largely due to an allergy of some sort but no cause truly came to conclusion. Everything happened so fast."_

Asriel's brain was trying to take in everything at once. Chara moved from beside him and stood in front of him. "See? I knew there was something else he was hiding."

Asriel got up with the book in his hands, skimming the rest of the page. That was when Chara made her move.

"But look at this part again."

Chara pointed to the middle paragraph.

" _ **There was an incident involving a Monster and a Human; both around the same age. The two had ventured into a largely forested area, and through some cause, the human became ill. This was largely due to an allergy of some sort but no cause truly came to conclusion."**_

"The Human and Monster both went into the forest and the human somehow became sick. No one truly knew the answer to how. But I think I know." Chara said, looking directly into the goat kid's eyes.

"W-what are you talking about?" Asriel asked as Chara looked up at the giant hole in the ceiling. The bright light stung against her bright-red eyes.

"The human must have ate the buttercups, Asriel."

Asriel blinked twice. "You mean...what we accidentally put in daddy's pie?"

Chara failed to hold in a chuckle. _Accidentally...such a funny word to use._

"Yes, Asriel. The buttercups."

Chara came closer.

"You want to free all of Monster-kind, don't you?"

"Of course, I do! Then everyone can be happy. And free!"

Chara came even closer.

"Then I've got a plan on how."

"Really? How?"

Chara was now standing directly in front of Asriel, smiling.

"I eat the buttercups."

Asriel paused in his movements. "Wait...are you saying that you're going to try and...and kill yourself?"

Asriel stepped back in shock. But before he could even take the second step backward, Chara's hands were on his shoulders, preventing him from moving any further.

"Just listen! If I do this...then you'll be able to absorb my **SOUL**. I won't be gone, I'll be within you. You'll able to pass through the barrier! All you have to do is get six more...then everyone will be free! Humans and Monsters can live together again. This is the only way, Asriel!"

Asriel put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes. Chara brung her arms around him in a hug. "Please, Asriel. Do this for me...for Monsterkind."

Asriel thought in a stupor for what to do. Should he left his friend die for the freedom of Monsterkind? But this was Chara's request. His friend's request.

"I I don't know...I mean, how will this work? What if it doesn't-"

"It will work, Asriel. It has to. You have to trust me. Come on, don't cry. _Big kids don't cry_."

Asriel attempted to stop the flow of tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. He sniffed, sucking in the feeling of dread as he looked into Chara's eyes.

"I-I know...okay...you now what? You're r-right. If this is what you want...I'll go get the flowers."

"No. We'll do it together."

...

...

They moved quickly, arriving at the garden within a short time. Chara made sure to check if Asgore was still present and found that he had left.

 _He's gone...better make this quick._

Chara ran into the garden, quickly scanning the flowers for the particular kind.

 _Where are the buttercups? Asgore...he must've removed them from the-_

Just then, she spotted a small patch of flowers that stood out in the far corner of the room. Asriel followed timidly behind her as she ran up to the corner and knelt down in front of the small yellow flowers. But they certainly weren't Golden flowers.

"Now how did you manage to miss these, King Flufflyboy?" Chara silently giggled to herself.

"Please, let hurry," Asriel said, rubbing his arm nervously.

Chara picked the buttercups and held them tightly in her hands. Their objective was finally complete.

Asriel store at the buttercups and then at Chara. He was bordering on crying again. The human looked deep into Asriel eyes. "Remember what I told you. We'll finally free everyone."

And then she ate the flowers.

It only took seconds. Chara felt the burning sensation in her throat. The pain traveled down to her chest, making it extremely hard to breathe. She coughed and held her throat tightly by instinct. As expected, Asriel panicked and held her up before she could collapse.

"Chara? Chara? Please, Chara...I-I don't want to... **CHARA** _!_ "

...

...

" _CHARA!"_

Asgore heard the faint scream. "They're in the Ruins? How did they...what was that noise?"

He didn't waste time. Asgore was out the door before he could even blink.

...

...

Asgore nearly fell over as he turned the corner into his garden room. He found Asriel holding Chara's unmoving form.

"Asriel! What happened?" Asgore shouted, dashing up to the two. He took Chara into his arms and shook her gently. "Chara...wake up, Chara..."

The only response was a subtle twitch. Asriel couldn't hold it all in. Tears began to fall from his eyes like a waterfall.

Asgore looked to Asriel for answers. "What did she do? What-what happened here, Asriel Dreemurr!" Asgore asked boldly, his face filled with confusion and distress.

Although tears trailed down his face and his hands were shaking, Asriel was frozen on the inside. "I-she ate the-Chara..."

"We need to get her home..."

Asgore turned around abruptly and power-walked out of the room, with Asriel towing closely behind, his head never leaving the ground. A trail of wet dots hit the Ruin's floor as he moped forward.

...

...

"I win!"

Lux was letting out small breaths as he approached the check-in...a little too late. Toriel stood proudly with her hands on her hips. She grinned widely as she set her food basket on the counter.

"No fair! I needed help with at least...seven of the items! I still can't figure out why anyone would place something as simple as Potato Chisps on the top shelves!"

Toriel gave out a giggle as she placed a hand on his shoulder again. "Oh, don't worry. Maybe I can teach you a few of my tricks for the next run?"

Lux frowned at Toriel as a ringing noise came from her purse. "Who could that be? Maybe Gorey?" she said as she dug through her bag to pull out the ringing device. _Home Phone._

Putting the cellular device to her ear, she greeted whoever was calling.

"Hello? Asgore?"

"..."

"Oh, my goodness...I'm on my way!"

Lux looked thoroughly confused as Toriel grabbed his hand in haste. She ran out of the store, her speed nearly causing Lux to trip over his own legs. "Toriel? What's wrong? Why are we-"

"It's Chara! She's sick...something happened!"

...

...

Lux, Asgore, Toriel, and Asriel stood beside the bed that Chara now laid in. Asgore's and Toriel's fears were now being played out in front of them. In all in a matter of minutes.

Chara was dying.

A few doctors did some check-ups and tests, and unfortunately, discovered that she consumed twice the amount Asgore had and did it raw. There was no pie to mix the effects.

"She...ate the flowers...the Buttercups. I-I couldn't stop her..." Asriel revealed silently. It hurt his little SOUL to tell a lie. Especially at a time like this. But he believed in Chara and her plan...yes, they would free the Underground and finally be at peace together.

But in truth, he doubted her...just a bit.

 _You really doubt me, Asriel?_

Asriel flinched. He thought it was just his imagination.

 _I thought big boys don't cry. You're a big boy, right?_

Asriel's eyes were unfocused.

 _I know you are. So I know you can do this._

Maybe it was. His imagination and all. Maybe he was finally losing it.

"Chara...Chara, please. Please wake up. You're...you're the future of Humans and Monsters...you can't die." Asgore mumbled, his watery eyes never leaving her face.

Toriel wrapped her hand around his, trying her best to comfort him. But she felt exactly the same way. Lux couldn't really tell which emotion he felt. Sadness? Anger?

 _Why did she do it? She had her whole life ahead of her. Did she really do this on purpose? By accident?_

Everyone's thoughts were abruptly ended as they heard Chara's silent moans.

"Chara!" Asriel exclaimed, running up to her.

Toriel joined him and placed a hand against her forehead to check for a rise in temperature from the fever. She immediately pulled it away in surprise as she and everyone else heard Chara begin to cough. Lux flinched and chose to leave through the door, Asgore and Toriel eying him in sympathy. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't sit around to watch her die.

He didn't know Chara like they did.

So he walked back to Asriel's room and sat against the bed, staring at the ground with a blank stare. He moved his eyes at the sleeve of the yellow-striped sweater. It reminded him of Asriel...and Chara. He didn't hesitate to take it off. He threw it at the ground in frustration, putting back on his original t-shirt that had been laid and folded neatly on Asriel's bed.

He sighed deeply, feeling a wave of sadness passing through him.

Moving his vision around the room, he scanned for something to keep his mind off of the situation. A book, a drawing...anything. He approached the dresser drawer and analyzed the picture drawn on a piece of paper...it was a flower.

He looked further to the right to find a calendar pinned to the wall.

Coming closer, he aimlessly moved his eyes through the squares that left space for writing plans and reminders, deciding to read a few.

 **Human friend falls into the Ruins!**

 **Chara eats her first pie...from Mommy!**

 **Me and Chara and Daddy make macaroni art! (Chara's was better... :( )**

It was only then that Lux looked at the calender's date.

"Wait..."

The calendar's date read: **2018-2019**.

"No...that can't be right."

...

...

Chara's eyes opened weakly, their red tint seemingly more faded in color. Asriel's eyes popped wider as she stirred, her cloudy eyes staring directly at the youngest of the Dreemurr family. Both Asgore's and Toriel's eyes began gleaming with a little hope.

"Chara, dear..." Toriel said, Chara's voice almost immediately cutting her off.

"Please...I wanna talk to Asriel...alone."

Chara's words took everyone off guard, especially Asriel. He thought he knew why already.

"Oh, o-okay...please Asriel...tell us if something goes wrong," Toriel told him as she turned for the door, however, as she did the situation seemed to hit her straight in the gut. She began to break down, crying hysterically as Asgore joined her through the door, choosing to look back just one more time before closing it.

Silence.

Everything was silent between the two, excluding Toriel's continuous sobbing.

Asriel stood in front of his dying friend, expecting her to just get up and say it was all a joke.

" _Just kidding! Ha! And you thought you were the only one who could pull off jokes!"_

" _Hehe! Why would you joke around like that, Chara? You scared us out of our fur!"_

The imaginative scene played over and over in Asriel's head, even as Chara spoke to him.

"I-I want to see the flowers..."

"The flowers? W-what flowers, Ch-Chara?" Asriel said, stumbling over his words as he sniffled.

"The flowers...the patches just in the center of my village...please, Asriel..."

She coughed a bit harsher than previously, her eyes struggled to stay open.

"But...I-I can't I-I don't know how-"

"You know how," Chara said weakly as her eyes dropped closed...and didn't open.

Asriel snapped under the pressure, wrapping his arms around her.

"C-C-Chara! No! PLEASE DON'T DIE! CHARAAA!"

He felt a sudden cold feeling spread throughout his body, bringing his head from over Chara's shoulders to find a red, glowing heart hovering between their chests. Before he could register what was happening, it rushed into his chest, causing him to swing his head back.

Asgore and Toriel ran to Chara's door, swinging it open in a panic. "Asriel? What hap-"

The two parents stood silently in shock as they found a tall creature facing away from them, holding what seemed to be Chara in its hands. It slowly turned around to face them, and what they saw would forever haunt them.

The creature was a tall, goat-monster with horns protruding from it's head. The sclera of its eyes were black, and it bore sharp fangs. It even wore a robe...just like Toriel, the symbol and all.

As Toriel stood stationary, frozen in fear and confusion, Asgore took a bold step forward, both cautiously and ready to fight.

"A-Asriel...is...is that you?" the Monster King asked, his eyes shifting between the creature and Chara's unmoving body.

No reply. Just the creature's non-moving form; its feet were hovering off of the ground slightly if that counted for movement.

And then the creature levitated forward.

Asgore flinched at the response but then found himself unable to truly react. He couldn't move his arms, head...or anything. Toriel was in the same position as her husband. The mysterious Monster slowly moved past the King and Queen, turning down the hallway to find Lux, his satchel gripped in his hands.

" **DO NOT FOLLOW ME.** "

The distorted voice rang through Lux's ears as he found himself unable to move. The last thing his vision caught was the Monster opening the front door telekinetically...and then he blacked out.

...

...

...

Lux gasped as he awoke from his forced sleep.

"Oh, no."

He hurriedly rose from the floor, picking up the satchel and bringing the strap around his neck, dashed for the front door. As he approached it, he thought about Asgore and Toriel's state.

"There's no time..." he told himself as he slammed the door behind him in a rush.

Through the Ruins, he went, racing through corridors and stumbling down the long hallway before eventually made it to the cave entrance. It was there that he found the robed creature just beginning to float upwards with the human child in its arms towards the Ruin's far-up opening.

"Asriel! Asriel, I know it's you. You have to stop!" Lux yelled as he ran as fast as he could toward them. Almost out of reach, he pushed his legs off of the ground as hard as he possibly could and grabbed a hold of the creature's ankle. It didn't seem to pay his actions any mind as its head was still tilted upwards, gazing towards the hole as it grew bigger and the light pouring from it building in intensity.

Closer, and closer, and closer they came.

ASRIEL narrowed his eyes as the light became even brighter than he had ever experienced before. They were just about to pass through the giant opening when Lux felt a strange pressure...one that grew immensely in intensity. The closer they got to passing through the barrier, the harder the pressure he felt.

 _W-what is this feeling? It-it hurts..._

ASRIEL grunted as he felt the effects of the barrier magic pass over him. However, as Lux followed in below them, he felt an excruciating, sharp pain throughout his entire body. As hard as it was, he found the will to keep his grip solid.

They were now high enough to see the structures of buildings and establishments below them from the mountains perspective. That was when Lux realized that something was very wrong.

 _None of these buildings look even remotely like any from my town...but that can't be possible, I just left a few days ago!_

Before he even registered it, he had let go of ASRIEL.

Lux fell onto the grassy terrain, all feeling in his body completely gone. He could only manage to lift his head just enough to see ASRIEL getting farther and farther away. And then he blacked out.

...

...

ASRIEL looked below to the structural environment that resided in front of him. Even as he was present in his transformed state, he still maintained a bit of his original personality.

" **I've never seen anything more intriguing than this..**."

Just as he muttered this, he felt a faint, but recognizable _pang_ in his chest.

" **Do not worry, I will see to it that you find your true rest with the flowers.** "

It wasn't long before ASRIEL reached the village, Chara's lifeless body still pressed against him in his arms. The gate to the village was swung open by command of ASRIEL. He paid no heed to the surprised reactions of the humans around him. He had ONE goal.

ASRIEL's eyes scanned the village community for the golden flower garden as a mass hysteria grew.

" **There you are.** "

In the middle of the village was a flower bed patch, much like his father's only smaller in comparison.

" **The Golden flowers...** "

He made haste, hovering over to the flower bed, and with delicacy, laid her upon it.

" **There, Chara...now you can finally get the rest you deser-** "

A loud bang and a sudden pain.

That was all ASRIEL could measure up.

ASRIEL felt a burning sensation rise up in his shoulder. He slowly moved his eyes to his shoulder to find a small, circular wound with blood slowly dripping from it.

He turned towards the source of the loud bang and blinked in confusion as he caught sight of a male human holding some sort of stick, a smoke slowly rising from the tip. There was a woman cowering behind him.

"L-let the girl go! I won't say it again!"

ASRIEL visibly flinched at the human's words of warning. A larger crowd gathered behind man and woman, all clearly afraid of his presence.

The same _pang_ was felt in his chest, only stronger.

 _Look at what he just did. He SHOT you, Asriel! They're trying to kill you! And all you wanted to do was lay me to rest...their a threat to you, Asriel...to us. Put an end to them all._

A second shot rang out.

ASRIEL felt the force from the projectile as it hit him in the gut. The attack sent him taking a reflexive few feet back.

"Drop the girl, NOW!"

ASRIEL's mind was racing.

 _You cannot let them get away with this. You can take the SOULS now. All the SOULS you need are right in front of you! We can free Monster-kind! Isn't that what you want?_

His white pupils grew even thinner. They were not only harming him, but they were an obstacle to Chara's wishes.

But then he caught glimpse of something; more like someone.

That someone resided within the crowd, just within eye's reach among the many shouting humans.

There, just well hidden enough to go unnoticed within first glance, stood a child.

A young child.

He finally got it. He finally understood.

Ignoring the sheer pain, ASRIEL bent back down and lifted Chara from the Golden flower patch. Holding her tightly, he began to float away and back towards the village entrance.

A third _pang_ was felt in ASRIEL's chest as he made his way away from the angry human crowd. This one, however, was very strong.

 _WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?_ _DESTROY_ _THEM!_ _REAP_ _THERE SOULS, ASRIEL! LOOK AT WHAT THEY DID TO ME! TO US!_ _KILL_ _THEM!_

ASRIEL felt another painful force impact him against his back, causing him to stumble. He caught himself right on time as he finally made it back through the gates of the village.

" **No.** "

Their journey back up the mountain began.

" **Can you really blame them?** "

ASRIEL felt the strength leaving his body, and through sheer will, pushed on.

He was only a few more feet away. A few more feet...

ASRIEL stumbled onto one knee, panting as the pain grew in intensity. He could spot Lux's unconscious body to his right, but he didn't have the strength to help him. He could only manage to move forward.

And so he did.

Back through the mountain's opening. Back into their prison.

He could hear his parent's shouts. Their shouts of pure joy...joy that he had come back. Then shouts of pure terror. The horrifying fact that their little Asriel was dying.

And just as his feet touched the ground, he collapsed, managing to cushion Chara's body from any harm. However, he couldn't stop the dust that he turned into from coating her small form.

The last thing that Asriel ever heard were the horrifying screams of an agonized mother and father.

His mother and father.

...

...

Lux dizzily stumbled back on his feet, his vision blurry and unfocused. He had just awoken in time to see a limping Asriel enter back into the mountain. Mt. Ebott.

He couldn't waste any more time. He moved as fast as his weak legs possibly could, ignoring the soreness the was felt through his entire body. He had to get back down there.

He made his way through the cave of the mountain for the second time, the morning's light making traversing a lot easier. Then he approached the hole that led back into the Underground. He was looking for a way to get back down. He certainly wasn't going to jump.

And then a strange concept came into fruition in his head. Then came an idea.

Lux looked around at the sea of vines that surrounded the large chasm, eying the ones that traveled down the large hole. He had no other choice.

He wavered as he slowly made his way to the edge of the opening, tugging on the multitude of vines until he found a sturdy one. Sighing painfully, he carefully lowered himself down with said vine gripped as tightly as possible in his hands, attempting to inch himself down with as much caution as possible. Luckily for him, the vine that he held onto traveled in a somewhat straight path down the side of the chasm.

Farther and farther down he went, using his weak hands to edge himself down the thick vine.

His worst fears were met with a grim noise.

*Snap*

Then falling.

He felt the wind rushing against him as he fell deeper and deeper into the opening. He closed his eyes, expecting the outcome of his journey. He was convinced he was going to die.

" _They didn't know any better!"_

Lux almost felt at peace...

" _They did this...they're responsible..."_

He could almost go to sleep...

" _No...I-I won't stand for this...this isn't the right way..."_

And soon, he finally did.

" _I'm sorry. But I've made my decision. And the Humans will pay for the crimes. I declare that any other human that falls down here will perish! And I will reap their_ _ **SOULS**_ _and gain the freedom that we deserve!"_

And then a somewhat cushioned thud.


	8. All you need is LV

_**Can you really blame them?**_

Lux woke with a start.

Even through the sickening feeling he felt throughout his body, his brain still had all the pieces together. Well, not entirely.

"W-ha? Am...am I **dead**?"

Lux's eyes didn't have to scan for very long before realizing that he was still alive. But not only that; he was also back in the Ruin's beginning, right where he had just left off. It was only when all of his adrenaline had settled that he had registered the plush, pillowy feeling that resided underneath him. He rose to one knee as he looked downwards only for his eyes to be met with a bright-yellow dazzling display of...Golden flowers.

"Wait, this can't be right," Lux said to himself as he weakly arose to his feet. "When did these get here, and how did they cushion my fall? I remember falling; there's no doubt about that..."

Then reality was sucked back into his mind.

"Asriel? Chara?" he shouted as he ran out of the empty room.

Down the long hallway and through the columned doorway he went, stopping as he arrived in the small room with one single ray of light beaming down to a particular spot in the center of the room. His mind was slightly panicking.

 _Something's not right. Where is everyone? What happened to Asriel and..._

His thoughts were interrupted as a bulge appeared in the ground in front of him, right in the center of the sunlight's beam. Soon, whatever was pushing against the terrain broke through, and what had revealed itself nearly stopped Lux heart.

Right in from of him...was a flower.

With a face.

A small silence between Lux and the unexpected flower commenced before the flower's blank expression turned into a happy, cheerful one. A friendly smile appeared on it's small face.

"Howdy!"

Lux visibly flinched at the greeting.

 _Did-did that flower just talk?_

He really shouldn't have been surprised. He was in the Underground after all.

"Howdy! I'm _**FLOWEY**_! FLOWEY the FLOWER!"

"Hi. I'm...I'm Lu-"

"You're new to the Underground, aren't 'cha?" the flower cut him off, the happy-go-lucky tone in his voice never failing to falter.

"Um...no, actually...have you seen a goat Monster by the name of Toriel?"

The flower flinched and a growl escaped from his mouth, but just subtle enough not to catch Lux's full attention.

"Um...no. But I can teach you the ways of how the Underground works!" Flowey told him, the ever-so-seemingly innocent smile gleaming brightly on the flower's face.

Lux sighed impatiently. "Look, I'm sorry...Flowey the Flower, but I've got to go. I have to find someone."

The upbeat flower ignored Lux's request, shifting his position to block the human's way. Lux, now on the brink of annoyance, shook his head in disbelief.

"C'mon, little flower. I've got somewhere I need to be NOW." Lux said boldly as he stepped over the comically small talking flower.

"W-wait!"

Lux didn't even make it three steps further before a small, glowing-white...thing appeared in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks.

 _What the heck?_

"Someone should really teach you how things work down here!"

Lux's widened eyes followed the singular white pellet as it hovered around him and back to the talking flower, only to find a whole mess of these things floating around it.

"Golly, you must be confused." Flowey said, eying the glowing white dots around him before looking back at Lux.

Smiling, Lux chuckled awkwardly. "Uh...yeah. You have no idea."

"Still in need of enlightenment? Well, I guess little ol' me will have to do." Flowey said, closing it's eyes. "Ready? Here we go!"

Before Lux could protest or add anything to the flower's rant, the room suddenly became darker.

"What the-!"

The human felt a shivering feeling as a glowing red object floated outside of his chest. Stunned by the spectacle, it was only after recovering from his bewilderment before he realized that it took the shape of a heart. He stepped back from the situation he was currently facing, trying to make sense of everything that was happening in front of him.

 _One minute, I'm trying to follow a scary-looking and transformed Asriel, and the next, I'm standing in front of a freaking talking flower and a glowing heart. What is GOING ON?_

"See that heart?" Flowey began. "That is your **SOUL**. The very culmination of your being!"

Lux only stood dumbfounded, allowing the yellow flower to continue.

"Your SOUL starts off weak, but you can grown strong if you gain a lot of _**LV**_." Flowey emphasized the acronym.

Lux, still confused, stumbled on his words. "I-I...but, whats..."

Flowey tilted it's head, it's cheerful tone coming back to meet Lux's ears.

"What does LV stand for?" Flowey said, leaving Lux the same as before: confused.

"Why, LOVE of course!" the flower finished, moving it's petal arms in a wide arc.

Lux's face finally showed some understanding. However, his confused attitude remained.

"Do you want some LV?"

Lux really didn't understand. He was still debating against staying here with this upbeat, talking flower. He needed to find Asriel! He needed to find out if Asgore and Toriel were okay! But he saw no other way out of this strange circumstance, so he gave the flower an answer.

"Y-yeah, I guess so? But afterward, I need to go." Lux said, tapping his feet against the ground.

Flowey's grin widened even farther than before, giving out a high-pitched giggle. "Don't worry. I'll share some with you!" it assured him, winking as it stuck out it's tongue in a childish, playful manner.

Five glowing-white small...things emerged from behind the Golden flower and stood stationary above it. "Down here, LOVE is shared through...little whittle... _'friendliness pellets_ '."

"Are you ready?"

Lux nodded slowly.

"Move around! Get as many as you can!"

Lux remained stationary as the white "friendliness pellets" glided downward towards him and the glowing heart that remained suspended in front of him. He really had no idea of how to even move the glowing red heart. He only noticed it twitch a bit after increasing his concentration. So naturally, the more he concentrated, the more the red heart responded.

"Hey, I think I know how to mo-ARRGHH!"

Lux felt a searing-hot pain designate within his chest, just as the white pellets made contact with his SOUL.

Lux fell to one knee, weakly looking upwards to find a terrifying sight.

A talking flower with bright-red eyes and the widest grin plastered on it's face. And it most certainly wasn't a friendly one.

" **YoU IdIoT.** "

Lux's fears doubled at the now demonic flower's tone of voice.

"In this world, it's kill or _**BE**_ killed."

He would have ran, but fear had it's grip on his shoulders and legs. Fear had him chained in place, refusing to let Lux disconnect his eye contact with the grinning flower's.

"Why would **ANYONE** pass up an opportunity like this!?"

Over twenty dozen white pellets surrounded Lux's injured form and SOUL.

Flowey's crazed glare bore down at Lux.

" **Die.** "

Flowey began laughing at the hopeless situation he had created for Lux, his evil cackling echoing throughout the small room as the white pellets circled around him, growing closer and closer and offering no escape.

Lux attempted to get up, succeeding in standing on his two feet. Unfortunately, he was to weak to respond to the approaching threat.

" **WHAAAAAHHAHAHAA!** " the flower laughed as the pellets that circled the human grew even closer.

 _Crap...I'm really going to die like this...I can't die now..._

The white pellets that were to spell Lux's inevitable doom suddenly paused in their tracks and dissipated within a flash.

"Eh?"

A red ball of fire materialized beside Flowey, and before he could react, it slammed into him and sent him out of view with a high-pitch scream.

Lux couldn't bare to stand on his feet anymore. He collapsed back onto the cold ground, the color of his SOUL that floated above him wavering and growing ever so dimmer.

It was then that Lux caught a glimpse of movement from near the next room's entryway, just behind a fairly large boulder. His eyes slowly grew wider at the sight of a white-furred creature. As the unknown being arose from hiding, he almost jumped back to his full health due to the excitement.

The tall figure wore a purple robe, had goat horns, a familiarly warm smile, and the same crimson eye color.

"T-Toriel..." Lux managed to speak out, stumbling as he fought for balance on his two feet. The goat monster seemed to flinch as it heard it's name.

"Y-yes, I am TORIEL, caretaker of these Ruins...how did you know my..." The goat Monster, now known as Toriel, gasped as she realized the state of feebleness he was in. "Oh my...you need help. Here, let me-"

Lux began to slowly and desperately stumble to Toriel, a faint grin on his face. "You have no idea...how happy I am...to see...you..."

Just as he approached her, he collapsed, causing Toriel to step forward and catch him in her arms.

"Oh my goodness...heavens, I need to get you back. What you need is some rest." Toriel said.

Carrying Lux in her arms, she made her way back to her home.


	9. Glitch In The Matrix

_**Longest. Chapter. EVER.**_

* * *

For the third time in what seemed to be the same day, Lux had awoken. But this time, in the comfort of a bed. He lifted his head from the soft, plushy pillow and noticing nothing but darkness. With haste, he got out of the bed, flipping the switch to the room. In a flash, the room's light illuminated it entirely, revealing a slightly newer look to it.

Lux blinked and looked around, rapidly eying the differences in the appearance.

"Wait..."

Lux was back inside of Asriel's room.

"Did they decide to redecorate alrea-"

Then he remembered something.

"Wait...Asriel...Chara..."

He burst out of the room in demand of answers. Toriel, who was sitting in her chair sipping on a cup of tea, instantly flinched at the prompt approach she received from the him.

"O-oh! Hello, human. I see you're finally awake! How are you feel-"

"Toriel, _please_ tell me what's going on?" Lux quickly interrupted.

The goat Monster gave him a puzzled look, placing the book on her lap and taking off her reading glasses.

"What do you mean? And how did you know my name? Perhaps that pesky flower told you?" Toriel replied, narrowing her eyes at the mention of Flowey.

"No! Ugh, Toriel, don't you remember me? I'm Lux! And where's Asriel and Chara?" Lux said, a desperate twinkle of hope instilled inside of his eyes. _I can't believe this is really happening!_

Toriel's eyes widened quickly at the mention of the two names, but lowered themselves to the ground in sadness. Had Lux finally gotten through to her? However, before Lux could say anything else, she shot them back up into the human's.

"Ok... _"Lux"_...you seem to know quite an awful lot about my...life. So please explain to me how you know about my two children." Toriel responded. Although her eyes remained bold in place as he stared at them, Lux could easily notice them growing watery.

"There is absolutely no way that you could have any knowledge...I just observed your fall into the Ruins...you can't possibly know..." she continued with an unsteady tone in her voice.

Lux was trying to piece everything together. First he falls into the Underground for the first time, meets the Dreemurr family, then he leaves it, only to fall down again and...seemingly, the Monster he had just met doesn't remember him? Something was terribly wrong, and he had to prove it. He just didn't know how.

But then he remembered something. The sash he had brung from the beginning was still strapped around his shoulder.

 _Wait...the Monster war book!_

Just as he was about to reach inside of the bag to pull it out, Toriel said something that brought him some hope.

"You look...really familiar. I know this is a silly thing to say, but...have we met before?"

Lux's SOUL practically jumped out of his chest. He wasn't sure if she was speaking in literal terms or just out of some form of curious feeling. "Yes! Yes, you have! And I can prove it. Please Toriel, I know this is all really absurd, but I can clarify everything. Just please bear with me."

Toriel gave Lux a questioning look but nodded her head nonetheless.

The human couldn't have had a wider grin on his face.

"Ok, so it all started-"

"Excuse me." Toriel politely interrupted.

"You wouldn't mind if we discussed this over some tea, would you? Let us get relaxed before we dwell on anything serious." she finished.

Lux agreed with her suggestion.

"It'll take a short while to prepare, so just try to get everything on your mind together. It seems we have much to talk about."

"Alright...I'll just wait for a while outside...I feel a bit light-headed."

Toriel gave him a small smile and nodded back, turning towards the kitchen.

Lux walked past the staircase and through the front door.

As he closed the door, he paused in front of it. How was he going to explain this the right way? Maybe if he back-tracked his memories to when they were all together as a family...he could truly convince her. How was she to say he was crazy if he detailed specific events from her past?

 _Oh, yeah...and where's Asgore?_

He turned around, ready to nervously and mindlessly pace around the dark tree a couple feet in front of him before he noticed a singular glowing spectacle just to the right, hovering above the red leave piles.

A yellow, glowing star.

Lux walked up to it with an extremely curious mind. The yellow light reflected off of his dark-brown eyes. After a moment of visually studying the mesmerizing scene, he instinctively extended his arm and reached his hand outwards to the glowing star.

The moment his hand made contact with the yellow star, he felt an immense calm overtake him. He felt as if nothing could stop him.

 _*Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the RUINS gives you_ _ **determination**_ _._

A white-bordered box appeared in front of him. Lux jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance but squinted his eyes to read the text that resided within it.

●LUX

HP- 20/20

LVL-1

*SAVE

 _Wait...I can...save?_

Lux was beginning to get the classic video game vibes he would get every time he was at a hard part of a level and couldn't find a save point in sight.

 _Man, this is getting really strange._

He moved his hand over the SAVE option and pressed against it. The option highlighted yellow in response and the whole menu box disappeared.

Just then, Toriel came out of the house, waving for him to join her. "Everything's ready now. You're okay, am I correct, Lux?" Toriel said, likely remembering his remark about feeling a bit off.

"Yeah, I'm okay now. Just needed to think a bit in a different environment."

Toriel gave him the smile she had best been known for and turned for the door. However, Lux did catch her gaze as it laid sight on the yellow SAVE point he had interacted with just seconds before. The gaze lasted as quickly as it started.

Entering back into the house, Toriel went through the living room and for the kitchen to fetch the newly brewed tea. This left Lux a while to ponder seclusively to himself as he lingered beside the dining room table. His eyes wondered around the room and eventually his brain remembered the staircase that led down to...lord knows where. He had almost forgotten about those stairs...

Although it seemed that he had somehow traveled further into the future, everything seemed relatively the same from the last time he was here. But Lux couldn't help but gain a dreading feeling in his stomach once he had laid eyes on the kitchen table.

The same table that Asgore had sat at. And nearly died.

 **Because of** _ **me**_ **.**

Lux blinked in confusion.

"What..." he said to himself.

Did he just think that? That wasn't his fault. It was Asriel and _Chara_ who baked the pie and-

"Okay, the tea is cooler now. Here you go." Toriel told Lux as she handed him a tea cup.

They both took a seat and began to take their first sips of the...golden flower tea? The taste was like music for the taste buds to Lux.

An unsettling silence was played out between the two as Lux's gaze flew around here and there, not sure when to start the conversation or even what to say. Toriel kept her eyes to the tea cup and took momentary sips here and there.

"Um...where do I start? Okay, Toriel...I'll start from the beginning."

"I'm listening with both ears." she replied with a noticeably sad smile.

Taking note of this, he began carefully.

"Let's start at the beginning. The very beginning. I fell down here before...and it was this time when Chara and your son...Asriel found me. They brought me from the Ruins and back here..."

As he explained, Toriel's eyes slowly widened, feeling a familiar pattern in his story.

"I'm sorry, but I can't explain it in this way. Don't you remember when we first met? You walked into Asriel's room and found me on the bed? Remember when you introduced me to the Underground and took me to the supermarket? Remember when-"

Toriel stood up abruptly, backing away from the chair she was seated in, successfully startling the human. Her paws were pressed against her mouth, and a shocked expression grew present on her face.

"Oh my goodness...there's no way...Lux...I-I..."

Lux slowly stood, resting his hands on the table. "You...remember me, now?"

Toriel quickly nodded her head, tears slowly building only to fall from the bewildered and glee-filled face hidden behind her hands.

"I-I thought you returned to the Surface and...and never came back..."

She brought her arms outwards as if she was welcoming a newcomer all over again. As if she was greeting a long lost friend. Exceptionally, she actually was.

"Child..."

Lux immediately pushed the chair forward and walked happily towards the endearing arms of Toriel, the caretaker.

But.

Just inches from her embrace.

Everything stopped. :)

* * *

/:)/

" **Ho ym gdoossen...hteer's on yam...xuL...I-I..."**

" **You...rmeemebr em, now?"**

" **Mu...wrhee od I satrt? Okay, Toriel...I'll start form eth beginning."**

 **aG**

 **ts**

re

/:)/

* * *

Everything was black...

He couldn't say or think.

He was just...

...

...

 ***LOAD***

Lux opened his eyes, vigorously moving his head around to realize he was back outside of Toriel's house. He was standing in the exact spot he stood when he first used the SAVE point.

"W-what?" Lux exclaimed aloud.

Just then, the door to the house in front of him opened, revealing it to be the owner, Toriel.

"Everything's ready now. You're okay, am I correct Lux?" Toriel said, sparking a thought that brung some kind of revelation to what had just happened.

 _I'm back outside...and she's repeating what she said just earlier today...did I just reload back into the past? I don't remember doing anything..._

"Uh, y-yeah. I'm okay." Lux said, forgetting what he had said exactly before the reboot.

Everything was growing too complex for the 12-year-old to understand. He wasn't even sure if the SAVE point itself had anything to do with the untimely relapse.

 _Maybe I'm missing something on how to properly use it?_

Toriel shifted her position inside slightly, a seemingly impatient look in her eyes becoming more apparent. "Quickly, child. The tea is complete."

There was an unfamiliar tone of haste laced within her words as she said this.

Lux was still a bit lost for words on what had just happened minutes ago, but he complied without hesitation. Back toward the kitchen, they went. Lux sat back down with a sigh, leaving Toriel to repeat her actions in getting the tea to the table.

Then a quick thought ran through Lux's mind.

 _Wait, if I'm repeating exactly what I went through after I saved, then why did Toriel say something completely different than before? Even her tone was different..._

A clattering noise snapped him out of his thoughts as he looked up from his daydream to find Toriel had set the tea pot rather harshly on the table. In reaction, a good amount of tea droplets sprung from the pot and had landed on the table's smooth, wooden surface.

"So...explain to me this..." Toriel began in an unsettling tone.

Lux couldn't bare to bring his eyes away from the goat Monster's. There was something different about the way they looked at him, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"How is it that you're so...acknowledged on the past?" she continued, taking a slow sip of her Golden flower tea.

"Well, like I said..."

Lux was trying to remember what he had said earlier before.

"I fell down here before. And your son, Asriel...and Chara _..._ both helped bring me back here. That's when I first met you and your husband, Asgore. You took me shopping and introduced me to the Undergrou-"

Toriel slammed her teacup harshly onto the table, the remaining portion of her tea shooting outwards and falling all around them like a quick rain shower. This greatly shook Lux as he reflexively stood from his chair.

"T-Toriel, are you feeling alright?" Lux asked as he set down the tea cup he still had clung onto.

Toriel's head was faced downwards, but he could still barely register the wide smile that began to stretch on her face. She slowly arose from her chair and scooted it in with no rush.

"You know what I think?" Toriel asked in an ominous tone.

Lux was beginning to shake. This was so...unlike her.

"W-what?" Lux replied.

"I think..."

She reached behind her and grabbed at something at her waist.

Lux's heart began to sink as Toriel slowly brought the hand back into view. First, a black handle was present...then a silver shine.

"You know a little bit too much." she finished darkly.

In her left hand...was a kitchen knife.

"She's due to fall too, you know..." Toriel said in an unsettling singsong voice, caressing the large knife as it were an antique.

"And you came a little too soon...that's one too many."

Lux backed off slowly, taking only two steps before pausing.

"T-Toriel...this isn't you...this can't be you."

Toriel looked up to Lux, giving him a subtle smile. But this was an entirely different smile; one that felt truly misleading to the eye, and if you didn't know the person who held it enough, you would never realize how out of place it was.

"Did you know that a Tang refers to how far the steel extends from the tip of the blade into the handle?" Toriel stated in a colorless fashion.

"What...Toriel..."

Toriel took two steps away from her chair and stood out beside the side of the table that faced towards the living room, blocking Lux's only direction of escape.

"There was a dagger specifically for finishing off wounded knights. It's called the Misericorde, Latin for ' **mercy'**."

"No..." Lux uttered weakly, tears beginning to form.

Lux was in shock. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know why someone like Toriel would suddenly threaten his life.

But this was all so wrong.

There had to be an explanation. There had to be something he could do.

And in the midst of this thinking, for the first time...

He felt it. He truly felt it.

He felt **DETERMINED**.

Lux, faster than he thought he ever could, sped past Toriel and ran through the living room, going straight for the staircase leading down to the unknown. What scared him the most wasn't rushing down the staircase in fear of running into a brick wall, no...what frightened him was the grin on Toriel face as he ran past her.

What truly scared him was the fact that she stood still as a statue, even as he looked back toward her...as he swiftly stepped deeper down the steps into the unknown.

He had absolutely no idea where this route would take him, but he knew full well that he had no other option. Retracing his way back through the Ruins would only give him spare time to await death, as the farthest he could go was where he had originally fallen down.

As he ran through the long, purple-tinted halls, he heard one final statement echo down from the top of the stairs.

"My child...why do you have to make thing so difficult?"

Lux kept running, his thoughts now scrambled and unkempt.

 _What do I do? What do I do!?_

He was finally met with a sharp turn to the left as the hallway finally came to it's end. He nearly slammed into the wall as he made that turn, only to find himself in an entirely different and new room. His jaw dropped as, just twenty feet in front of him, was a large door. The same color as the surrounding walls, it's edges were outlined in black and the very same symbol found on Toriel's robe was decorated in the middle.

"Where does this lead to?" Lux asked himself as he approached it in a hurry. Now in front of the closed door, he failed to find a knob of some sort. He attempted to push against it with his back. Nope. He then turned towards it again to push with his hands, but no gold.

"Now, now, child. You're doing it wrong."

Lux froze.

Slowly, he turned around towards the direction of the eerie, and sadly familiar voice to find Toriel standing in front of the path he had came just through.

Her arms folded, she shook her head with closed eyes and a smug smile on her face.

"Looks like the end of the road for you, Lux."

Lux, scared out of his wits and lost for what to do, still chose to hold is ground, standing firm on his end of the room. He was still determined to find answers.

"What's gotten into to you, Toriel? You are NOT the type of Monster to do something like this. You and your kind are the nicest beings I've ever met! So what's with the sudden change in attitude? What could possibly urge you to hurt someone you've come to good terms with?"

Toriel stood silently, her ruby eyes giving him a stagnant stare before her lips parted again.

"Heh...EHAHAHAHAH!"

Lux's tears re-emerged from where they were once hidden.

"Please, at least tell me why you're doing this...and what you plan to accomplish..." Lux said as the tears flowed from his eyes.

Toriel unfolded her arms as she left them to swing lifelessly at her sides. Her eyes trailed to the right.

"A little bird once told me..."

She brung her right arm to her waist as a small ball of fire built up in the palm of her hand. She then looked to Lux as she narrowed her eyes.

"That any human that falls down here must be put out of their misery."

Before Lux could properly react, a fireball was thrown at his feet, the force sending him off balance and falling onto his back. The air was half knocked out of him as he impacted the ground, leaving him dazed and defenseless for a short period of time.

It didn't take long for him to shuffle back to his feet, holding up his hands defensively in a form of refusing to fight.

"I-I' not going to fight you, Toriel! Somethings wrong with you! I-I know that this isn't really you!" he screamed desperately, hoping he could somehow get though to her. Even by the slightest.

Suddenly, the room darkened.

His red SOUL emerged out from Lux's chest as it hovered high above him.

He had only four options:

 ***FIGHT**

 **ACT**

 **ITEMS**

 **MERCY**

 _Act? Items? Fight? ...Mercy...what is this, some sick video game?_

He wasn't going to fight her...nothing would change his mind on that.

And so he chose.

 ***MERCY.**

"Do you really believe that you're going to leave here alive, darling?" Toriel mocked harshly as she launched two more at his form. The first was easily side-stepped by Lux but the second skimmed his shoulder, as it trailed swiftly behind the first.

"Ahh! Frick, that burns..." Lux let out as the options were set out in front of him once again.

 ***FIGHT**

 **ACT**

 **ITEMS**

 **MERCY**

 _...I have to get through to her somehow...I need answers. Maybe I could ask her again..._

 ***ACT**

 ***Lux asks Toriel what drives her to be so hostile.**

"Because your SOUL is the last piece. We will break the barrier into pieces. We will be _FREE_." Toriel responds sharply.

Three more fireballs fly at him with immense speed. Lux found it surprising he could have even of dodged one of them.

 ***FIGHT**

 **ACT**

 **ITEMS**

 **MERCY**

Lux nearly fell at the cold-dead look he received from Toriel. But it wasn't just cold. It was expressionless. Like she was zoned out and oblivious to the situation she was in. Like she didn't care.

 _No...she does care. I just need to jog her memory._

 ***ITEMS**

 ***Lux pulled out the War of Monsters and Humans book, holding it out in front of him.**

"See this?" Lux called out to the Caretaker, her expression as stagnant as before.

"This is the ancient book I showed to Asgore...I wish I had the chance to show it to you...so then some light could maybe be shed on this whole situation..." Lux finished.

No response on Toriel's behalf.

Nothing seemed to be working. Toriel's stagnant expression reformed back into that of a wild grin as she raised both of her arms upwards, over twenty separate fireballs forming overhead.

"Oh boy."

The fireballs whizzed by him simultaneously, Lux trying his absolute best to avoid the onslaught of flames that were trained on him. He was successful the first couple of times but easily fell off rhythm with his efforts. Two balls of fire struck him; one in the leg and one in the chest. He felt an immense sharp pain inside of his body, which greatly worried him.

He fell backward again, landing hard on his back. His head impacted the hard ground rather harshly, his vision going white for a split second.

Instincts quickly overtook him as he could practically feel the other fireballs still on their course towards him. He rolled to the left in hopes of saving himself from at least half of the attacks that were sent towards him.

He was correct to listen to his gut feelings; he caught the sting of a few flames, but it was apparent that the majority of Toriel's attack were aimed exactly where he had just fallen.

Quickly getting up, he rubbed his head and checked his leg and chest for anything serious.

 _Nothing too serious...that's weird...but now's not the time for any thoughts other than the ones focused on this fight._

His options over-weighed him again.

 ***FIGHT**

 **ACT**

 **ITEMS**

 **MERCY**

"I've got it!" Lux tried to say quietly, but obviously caught the attention of the goat Monster.

"Why don't you just give up already? I can make this fairly quick for you."

He chose once again.

 ***ITEMS**

 ***Lux remembered something. He reaches inside of his back pocket and pulls out the crumpled list of groceries items.**

Holding the piece of paper out for Toriel to see, he tried something more personal.

"Remember this, Toriel? This is the list that you gave me when we went to the Underground supermarket. You really had me beat in that checklist race, haha...we should do it again sometime, maybe?" Lux said as the hand that held the small sheet of paper shook nervously.

Toriel's hands lowered slightly and her grin lowered into that somewhat of a saddening frown before her expression change back into that of malice.

"Your stupid memory games won't work, you IDIOT!" Toriel shouted.

The insulting sentence hurt, but it was that singular word alone that sounded familiar.

 _Idiot..._

Toriel raised her right hand into the air and swirled it around, creating a large, circular ring of fire that spun around in a rotation.

"DIE."

Lux readied himself as Toriel prepared to fire the attack at him (no pun intended).

The size of the fiery ring by itself should have sent Lux running. Well, if he even could have. So he had no choice either way; he would have to find a way to survive this one. The ring of fire that spun around above Toriel's head was far too big to ensure if he could make it out of this one without taking any large damage.

"This is the end.," Toriel said in a seething voice.

And then she motioned her arm forward.

"Here it comes..." Lux said to himself as he raised his arms and brung them in front of him in a form of defense.

 _There's...there's no way I can dodge this one. I'll just have to pray I can survive this...just one more ACT..."_

The impact was harsh. The thin, rotating ring of fire made contact with the arms that were brought up in front of him. The power of the attack pushed him further back as he tried to keep it from overpowering him.

"Argghhh..."

Beads of sweat slowly dripped from his face, the hot burning sensation from the flames starting to set in. He could practically feel his HP lowering as time went by. He dared to take a quick glance to his right to find that his SOUL was shaking erratically in reaction to his opposition against the attack.

But he could feel it...he could feel himself growing weaker and weaker. This attack wasn't letting up and was only pushing him further and further towards the large door.

If Toriel wanted to, she could have killed him right then and there. But instead, a glimpse ahead showed her standing proudly with her arms extended outwards. As if she was slowly increasing the amount of power of the fiery ring. As if she was just toying with him...slowly.

Just seconds from hitting the wall, he felt utterly helpless.

 _She's going to permanently singe me into this wall if I don't do something...but what is there to do? She's too strong...and I've never fought once in my life. And I don't want to fight..._

 **Utterly hopeless. :)**

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

However, there was one thing he still had.

He had Determination.

The determination to save Toriel. The determination to find answers. The determination to _win_.

Just feet away from the wall behind him, Lux loosened his resistance against the flame-ring and let it force him back. His eyes closed tightly as he focused.

"WUHAHAHAHA!"

Toriel's manic laughter nearly threw him of his concentration, but he managed to re-balance it. He flashed his eyes open and looked behind him. Now close enough, he kicked his legs back, the force of Toriel's attack sending him back full force. Extending his legs, his shoes impacted the wall.

 _If this works, I'll be satisfied, even if I eventually end up losing this fight._

He was now standing horizontally against the wall with the strength of Toriel's attack weighing against him. Struggling to keep the ring of fire from crushing him, he made one final attempt at retaliation. With every ounce of his SOUL and remaining stamina, he pushed off of the wall.

"ARRGHHH!" Lux screamed. With every ounce of his SOUL and remaining stamina, he pushed off of the wall.

It had worked. The flaming attack rebounded. The circular flaming attack was sent spinning at a rapid speed back towards Toriel.

"What?" she screamed, astonished.

But it had been to late. The attack had hit it's original creator full force, the attack exploding into a wild blaze that shined brightly, blinding Lux as he store weakly from the ground.

The bright flames were quickly replaced with a huge ball of smoke. It then expanded, slowly overtaking the room and limiting Lux's vision.

A silence was welcomed as the human laid nearly motionless on the cold ground, too tired to wonder about the outcome. Too tired...

"No...I have...I have t-to see if Toriel's okay..." he mumbled to himself as he pressed his hands against the floor and pushed himself onto his feet. The muscles in his arms and legs were extremely weak. He wavered and stumbled as he slowly made his way towards the smoke cloud. He didn't even know if she was still standing. Or if he was awaiting his approach.

Left foot, right foot.

The smoke cloud was just beginning to dissipate, making it easier for Lux to gain his bearings.

He could barely make out the form of a tall figure, easily identifying it as Toriel. She was standing, and as the smoke had completely cleared, it was easy to notice she was on her last legs as well.

She cringed in anger at the sight of the human, and a loud snarl escaped her muzzle.

"Y-you're..dead. You h-here me, you filthy human! You're dead!" she threatened as she feebly raised her arm, faltering in her attempts to stay on her feet.

Lux tried to block out the hurtful comments she spewed at him as he gradually approached. It hurt him so much more knowing what a kind and sweet person she really was. But this wasn't her. It couldn't possibly be.

A flaming ball of fire was weakly thrown from Toriel's hand as Lux approached her. It missed, rushing past his face as it impacted the wall behind him.

"Toriel..."

She threw two more, nearly losing her balance. One skimmed Lux's cheek, causing him to flinch. But he continued onwards towards her.

"I hope you burn..."

Lux ignored her. _Almost..._

"I hope you burn IN DESPAIR!"

 _Almost there..._

Just a few feet away from him, Toriel fired another fireball.

This one hit it's mark; right in the chest. Lux took to steps back from the strike.

All was silent between the two.

Lux's mind was blank. He wasn't even staring at Toriel's eyes anymore. Just a blank look forwards.

A small smile then slowly crept onto Lux's face. He continued forward, even slower than before.

 ***FIGHT**

 **ACT**

 **ITEMS**

 **MERCY**

Without hesitation, he chose...

 ***ACT**

 ***Lux reminds her of the first time she made him her famous Butterscotch pie.**

Heh...I'll never forget that day..."

Toriel stood astonished. "How are you still standing?"

Absentmindedly ignoring Toriel's comment, he continued.

"I'll never forget the day when I first tried out your famous Butterscotch pie...it was truly divine."

Something in Toriel snapped.

Her angry and confused expression almost immediately changed into one of a softer kind. Her eyes became a darker and more relaxed tone of red and tears began to free-flow from her eyes.

"What...I...don't understand..." she whispered to herself as she let her arms relax against her sides.

"That's it Toriel...I know you're still there..." Lux barely whispered.

He was just a few feet in front of her.

Just then, Toriel felt _something_ leave her. It was almost like a cold shiver. She was brought back to reality as Lux collapsed against her chest, causing her to catch him in his dead weight.

Almost immediately after she did, an unrecognizable and strong power overtook her. Her eyes widened in reaction, and her mind blanked out and faded to black...

...

...

...

" _ **I told you, sweetie...it really isn't much of a topic to talk about."**_

" _ **Are you kidding, mommy? It must have been amazing to have been up there for sooo long!"**_

" _ **Azzy..."**_

" _ **Please? Please tell me something! Maybe what the flowers and trees looked like, or-or maybe the different cultures. Oh, wait! Tell me about the-"**_

" _ **Child, please...maybe another time."**_

" _ **No fair! You said that last time!"**_

" _ **..."**_

" _ **...Sorry mother..."**_

" _ **No. You are right. Perhaps I shall tell you a bit about your I and your father's time on the surface later. But let us continue with what set off here to do."**_

" _ **O-oh, right."**_

" _ **Do you remember what your wish was?"**_

" _ **Yeah I do!"**_

" _ **Hehe...okay. Hold your hands together like this...now just relax, close your eyes and say it honestly from your heart."**_

" _ **O-okay."**_

" _ **..."**_

" _ **I-I...I wish that one day, Monsters will be able to reach the Surface. And see all of the beauty that's up there. And maybe...live among the Humans in peace. Then we could really do some good. Together."**_

" _ **..."**_

" _ **How was that?"**_

" _ **...That was an amazing wish, my son."**_

" _ **Heh, thanks...hey, mom? Why are you crying? Are you okay?"**_

" _ **Y-yeah, I'm alright sweetie. You just reminded me of something I saw long ago..."**_

" _ **Oh..."**_

" _ **Alright, Asriel. Let's head back. I'm sure your father is back by now."**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **...**_

Lux's eyes fluttered open as he was finally brung out of his unconsciousness. The first thing his eyes were laid upon was the still form of Toriel, who laid right next to him, an arm rested over his body. Although it still hurt very much, Lux had much more energy than he had before, pushing himself off of the ground and kneeling beside her.

He began to shake her, scared of what might have happened.

"Tor...Toriel...please, wake up." Lux said desperately in a whisper.

Toriel stirred a bit, causing an intangible joy to develop in his chest. She ultimately opened her eyes back open.

"Lux...Lux, is...is that you?"

Lux smiled, tears forming on the corner of his eyes again. "Yeah, it's me. Everything going to be okay."

Toriel attempted to sit up, grunting in pain from the fight beforehand. "I...I saw it..."

Lux immediately registered what she was saying. "You mean the..."

Toriel smiled warmly at the human. "The flashback, yes...you saw it too, didn't you?"

Lux nodded, trying his best to stand on his two feet. Toriel seemed to reject his actions, taking his hand and gently pulling him back against her chest. She wrapped her arms around him in a warming hug.

"Please, Lux. Let me heal you. I can't possibly let you move around like that with what you've already been through." Toriel said, an uplifting and heavenly feeling flowing throughout the humans body.

Lux and Toriel both radiated a light-blue as the Caretaker worked on mending both of the damage they had sustained through her magic. It wasn't long before they were both back to full health.

"Oh, Toriel! Thanks a bunch! You saved my life." Lux thanked as he hugged her full force.

"Oh! Hehe. It's my duty, after all."

But there was still so many unanswered questions.

Lux pulled his face from around Toriel's neck and looked her dead in the eyes. "What happened to you? I-I mean first you were all nice and then the next moment you were trying to fry me! I don't understand..."

Toriel blinked at his question, sadly drawing her vision back to the ground. "I saw it all. I saw everything. From beginning to end. And I couldn't bare to watch...but I had to. Lux...who you were fighting...wasn't really me. I can't explain it, but I wasn't in control of anything. And just before we both passed out I felt something leave my body. It was so cold..."

Lux stood silent, still staring in her eyes as if expecting more.

"I noticed that yellow glowing star that you were observing outside. Ever since...ever since Chara and Asriel...ever since they passed, more Humans came through, and every time one did, the yellow star would be there. Every time they died...it seemed to disappear again. One Human told me it was some sort of saving mechanism so I'm glad you chose to use it."

 _Wait. What do you mean 'passed'? And more humans came here...and died?_

"Hold on, you said something about Chara and Asriel. Where are they?" Lux asked anxiously.

"My child..."

Toriel looked away, rubbing her eyes to stop any more upcoming tears.

"Asriel and Chara are...both dead."

Everything that Lux had had inside of him that brung joy suddenly collapsed. Even the joy of saving Toriel wasn't enough to save him from the despair that his heart failed to contain.

"No...H-how long as it been?" Lux asked warily.

"That's exactly my point. I don't know how you're still even a child..." Toriel said in a low voice.

 _What? What was she talking about?_

"What do you mean by..."still a child"? I'm like, twelve. Of course I'm still a child!" replied Lux, utterly confused by her comment.

"Are you sure your alright, Toriel?"

The goat mother exhaled abruptly as if caught off guard by an embrace of some kind.

"Lux, I-I don't think you understand what I'm trying to say..."

Lux's expression of confusion only grew.

Toriel looked downwards and sighed deeply. Tracing her line of sight back with the human's eyes, she took a moment to dwell in his dark-brown eyes before speaking.

"Child...it's been at least 30 years since Asriel and Chara died. It's 2049."

"Lux's heart stopped. Nearly.

"W-what are you talking about?" Lux asked with an unbelieving doubt laced in his eyes. He arose from the ground and stood and stared at Toriel with a nervous smile.

"It's always been 2049. When I fell down here...my birthdays on..."

A silence passed between them both. The human was lost in a circle of questions.

 _Had I somehow traveled into the past when I fell? And when I fell the second time, I returned to the present timeline? No...no that's ridiculous. But that calendar I saw...in Asriel's room..."_ _ **2018-2019**_ _"._

He shouldn't have been surprised. He was in a world full of Monsters and had just figured out that he could save his progress...like a video game. But...he just couldn't wrap his mind around it. However, he was desperate to find the right answers.

"Toriel...I think I know the answer to all of this. When I first fell, I must have... _somehow_ went back into the past, and that was when I first met you. When Asriel crossed the barrier, I went through with them. I looked at the village he must have taken Chara back to...I-I don't recalling seeing any village within the range of this mountain when I climbed it. There wasn't any village there..."

Toriel was trying to process what he had said, bringing her hand to her jaw to stroke it. As if she finally decided to accept his explanation, she brought her eyes back to his.

"It's the only thing that makes sense...maybe you're right. But, how exactly?"

Lux didn't know how...but he had to try.

"That's what I want to find out. I want the answers to all of this."

Toriel's head lowered again. "So, you're truly leaving, I presume."

Lux noticed her wary gaze, even as it was focused somewhere else.

"Yeah, I have to Toriel...I know I'll be okay. But, why don't you come along with me? We can do this together!"

"I cannot."

"Why not?"

Toriel arose like he did, turning away with tightly-closed eyes. "There's something I need you to know."

"Alright. What is it?"

"Things have changed in the Underground...you see...me and Asgore separated after the death of Asriel and Chara...he..." Toriel tried and tried before she finally had the strength to verbalize it.

"He wants to collect the SOULS of humans that fell down after you and Chara...he is planning to cross the barrier and destroy the Human race for being what he says is the cause of all of our suffering..."

Toriel turned to Lux as he listened on incredulously.

"And he...he won't hesitate to take yours to do it. You are the last. You're the only one they need now."

Lux was extremely surprised at the turn of events that seemed to of happened when he was supposedly gone. But his posture stood strong.

"Then I won't let him. I'll find a way to talk to him. I'll find my answers...and even try to free Monster-kind without anyone having to die. Then maybe we can all be happy...together."

Toriel was close to tears again. His words sounded so familiar. So much like..Asriel.

"I sense it is time for you to make that daring journey, then...but please allow me to give you something first. Please stay here."

Lux nodded as he watched Toriel head back through the way he had once come. It wasn't very long before she returned with something clenched in left hand. In her left, was a bag with something sealed inside of it.

"Here, take this along with you. You'll need it. So we can keep in touch."

Toriel handed him the cell phone, placing it in his hand.

"Neat!"

Toriel smiled, handing him the other item of interest.

"And take this as well. It's just how you like it."

She handed the bag to Lux, and judging by the delicious scent he already knew what it was.

"Butterscotch pie. Don't even need to look. Thanks, Toriel...for everything." Lux said, putting the phone in his pocket.

"Oh!"

Within seconds, Toriel was back upstairs. She came back with a blue and orange jacket, just his size. Wordlessly, she fitted the jacket on him and took a step back, smiling.

"You're just awesome, Toriel." Lux told her, zipping up the middle.

As he did, he failed to notice Toriel's approach. She knelt to his level and wrapped her arms around him, not wanting to let go. But she had to.

"Please, be safe. And call whenever you need to...just..."

"Don't worry, mo-"

Lux caught himself as quickly as he started.

"I'll be fine. Thanks again...this won't be the last time. Bye, Toriel."

"Goodbye, my child."

And with that, an extremely difficult turn and walk. As he furthered his way towards the door with the insignia, Lux turned to wave and Toriel repeated the action. The door suddenly began to motion itself open with a loud creak and then was met with an open entrance way.

One final look at the motherly Toriel, and then he passed through.

* * *

...

...

Another long hall...

And then something familiar.

A dark room with a single ray of light that beamed down...on a singular grassy spot in the center of the room.

Lux had an uneasy feeling of dread accumulate in his stomach as he fully entered.

He had a scenario play in his mind on what that he thought would happen.

And it did.

The ground beneath the grassy spot began to bulge, the human's fears coming true. Withing seconds, the talking flower, Flowey, was staring up at him from the ground. Stagnant from fear, Lux found himself unable to move. A situation he had experience with before.

With narrow eyes and a wide grin. The golden flower laughed.

"Clever. Verrryyy clever."

Snapping out of his fright, Lux snapped back to his usual reaction to an annoyance. "What do you want now, Flowey, the talking weed?"

Flowey's face began to fluster with anger, gnashing his teeth with spite.

"SHUT UP." Flowey shouted as his lips curved back into a smile. "I really thought you would give up on her. I was expecting you to kill her. I guess I misjudged your potential."

Lux, planning to add in another smart comment, was cut off by the flower before he could talk.

"But remember this..."

Flowey's smile changed into a wild grin.

"You can't spare _**everyone**_."

Expecting the human's doubts to show, Flowey was met with disappointment. The human was laughing. Not directly at him, but the idea.

"Please, Flowey. I don't care about what you perceive me as. I'm not going to give in to violence. I'll find my answers, I'll find a way back home, and I'll free Monster-kind. I am _determined_ to make that happen. And I won't leave here until all three of those goals have been completed."

Lux looked boldly into Flowey's eyes. "And maybe I'll get to save you too."

Lux's statement seemed to falter the talking flower below him, but his cocky attitude rematerialized as soon as it had left.

"Bold words, human."

Flowey's grin couldn't have stretched any wider. "Let's see just how long you last."

The words easily crept down into Lux's psyche.

What did he know about the Underground? He had only been to the balcony of the Ruins and to the Supermarket. He had absolutely no idea what lied ahead of him. But what choice did he have but to be bold?

Lux turned away from Flowey's gaze and walked past him, continuing on his way towards the Ruin's exit.

Just as Lux's hands were about the push open the gigantic doors, he heard one more statement from Flowey.

"And saving me?"

Flowey chucked to himself.

"Good luck with that."

And then silence.

Lux felt the urge to turn around to see if the talking flower was still behind him, sticking his tongue out at him or giving him another heated glare. But Lux was tired. He just wanted to move forward.

 _Do I really believe I can do all of this? I mean, I technically put the fate of Monsters in my hands... but what can one twelve-year-old do? I'm just a...no...I promised Toriel...I can't back down now. I have to have..._

 _..._ _ **DETERMINATION**_ _._

Swallowing his doubt, he pushed the huge double doors with all of his might. As it slowly opened he was welcomed by a cold breeze and a blinding white.


	10. The Skeleton Bros

" _ **As a writer, I need an enormous amount of time alone. Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It's a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write. Having anybody watching that or attempting to share it with me would be grisly."**_ **― Paul Rudnick**

" **Oh, and because I didn't have any Wi-Fi. I guess that makes you lazy and unable to update stories, too." - the Creator of this story**

 **/**

* * *

Cold. Shivering. Freezing.

Lux gripped his jacket-covered shoulders tightly as he thought about all three of these words.

 _Even WITH the jacket? Come on, is it really_ _ **this**_ _cold out here?_

Pushing through the relatively short build of snow-covered ground, he trudged forward. The trees that loomed to the sides of him wasn't helping him feel any more confident.

The leave-less, dead trees towered over him.

He unknowingly stepping on a broken branch that lay nearly consumed by the white snow.

It cracked under the pressure of his shoe.

"Oh!"

Lux's surprise quickly faded as he realized what he had stepped on.

His paranoia only grew with every passing second; every step his feet made against the crunchy, frosty snow underneath him only increased his anxiety.

"Oh, man...what am I even doing?" Lux whispered to himself through the stinging chill of the air.

 _Oh yeah, trying to save Monster-kind. I seemed to have forgotten._

He tried his best not to pay any heed to the trees that flanked him to the left and right. They were too thick in numbers to clearly see through and left whatever resided inside of them a mystery. So he kept his eyes forward and kept moving.

A form of progress lit brightly inside of his head as he noticed an upcoming bridge just ahead of him.

He instinctively picked up the pace in his trek, the bridge becoming more clear and clear to him.

"A-almost there..."

Within the minute, he had finally found himself in front of it. He noticed that there was some sort of gate that was built across it. However, the bars were built too far apart from each other to prevent anyone from moving past them.

"This can only lead forward. The real question is...where does it lea-"

Footsteps from behind him.

Lux dared not to turn.

He dared not to look behind him and face the possibly impending danger that pursued him.

More crunching.

Each step only became more increasingly audible.

Thoughts shot through his head at lightning speed.

 _Is it Toriel? Had she changed her mind and considered coming along with me? No...no, she would have said something by now. Has a monstrous creature finally decided to rear it's head from inside the dead forest?_

The footsteps stopped just a foot from behind him. His only option of survival was to hold in his breath.

Then words were spoken.

"human."

"don't you know how to greet a new pal?"

" **turn around and shake my hand.** "

Lux exhaled shakily and pressed his eyelids closed.

Slowly and dramatically, he rotated his body to face the unknown assailant.

Lux lifted his right arm as if it were full of lead, un-balling his clenched fist and presented it to the unknown being.

"i'd prefer your left hand."

Confused, but too scared to question. He gave out his left hand.

Lux refused to open his eyes, so he guessed and wavered his left hand slowly around until it tapped against something...solid.

"that's my face."

He finally got a grip on the unknown beings hand and shook-

 ***PPPPRRRRRRTTTT***

Lux's heart jumped for a second before realization hit.

 _What?_

"heheh...the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick."

"it's ALWAYS funny."

 _...what?_

Lux slowly opened an eye and peered through it only to find in his sights...a skeleton.

A walking, talking (and breathing?) skeleton.

Lux didn't even know what to say. So he didn't.

"anyways, you're a human right? that's hilarious."

"..."

"i'm sans. sans the skeleton."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"so whats your name pal?"

Giving up on the dramatic act, he trailed his vison off to the right.

"Um...my name is Lux. Nice to meet you?"

"lux...neat name. never heard of it before."

"heheh...yeah...ive heard **that** before."

"cool. seems to me you've got a clean slate. well, i'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now."

Lux was once again on edge.

"but...ya know...i don't really care about capturing anybody."

A mental exhalation of relaxation left Lux's brain.

" now my brother _papyrus_..."

 _Crap._

"he's a human-hunting FANATIC."

"hey, actually i think that's him over there."

"i have an idea...go through this gate-thingy...yeah go right through. my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone."

Lux gave out a surprising chuckle that he never expected to let out. _What could possibly be funny about all of this? Maybe I need to lighten up. Toriel and Asriel taught me better than to fear Monsters._

Lux complied with Sans and walked past the poorly constructed gate and over the bridge. He continued until a stand and a lamp...and Sans were just in front of them to the left.

"H-how did you get here...w-when you were just..."

"quick, behind that...inconveniently-shaped lamp."

Lux didn't know what he meant by 'inconvenient' but complied nonetheless. He ran to it and hid behind it. It was a surprisingly tall lamp and was just barely enough to hide him from view. He could hear the conversation play out just a good ten feet in front of him.

"sup bro."

"YOU KNOW WHAT "SUP," BROTHER! IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALLIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION!"

Sans stood silent.

"WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING!?"

"staring at this lamp," Sans admitted, pointing to it.

"it's really cool."

Lux mentally prayed he wouldn't give his position away.

"do you wanna look?"

 _Dang it, Sans! You're not helping!_

"NO! I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE?! I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!"

"THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS..." he stated, folding his arms.

"...WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT...RECOGNITION...I'LL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE **ROYAL GUARD**!"

Lux struggled to keep himself upright behind his cover. It was getting hard trying to stand stagnant as he was.

"I WILL HAVE MANY FRIENDS AND WILL BE BATHED IN KISSES EVERY MORNING!"

"maybe this lamp will help you."

"SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOU LAZYBONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AROUND AND SLACK OFF ALL DAY!"

Sans snickered.

"not true. i've actually gotten a ton of work done today. a skele- **ton**."

Lux tried to hold in a laugh as a comedic drum snare rang from seemingly nowhere.

"SANS!"

"arent you smiling?"

"I AM AND I HATE IT!"

"wow. it really seems like your working yourself...down to the **bone**."

Another comedic drum snare ensued. And Lux couldn't hold it in.

"PPPFFTTTHHAHAHA!"

Lux lost his balance and stumbled out of the cover of the lamp, rolling on the frosty ground in laughter.

"Oh, it shouldn't even be..."

Papyrus and Sans just stared at him.

"...this..."

Akward silence.

"...funny..."

Beside Sans was indeed Papyrus. A taller and slimmer skeleton that wore an orange-red scarf around his neck with same colored gloves and boots. He also some sort of costume that resembled only what Lux could describe as " anime body armor".

A few more seconds of silence...then...

"WAIT. IS THAT...IS THAT A..."

Lux laid stiff on the ground as still as possible. As if he did move, he would be annihilated.

Sans smile never faltered.

"a 'what', bro?"

Papyrus stood with his hand cupping his chin.

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW. WELL ANYWAYS, I'M GOING TO CHECK UP ON THE TRAPS. MEANWHILE I THINK YOU SHOULD TRY PUTTING A LITTLE MORE... **BACKBONE** INTO YOUR DUTY. NYEHEHEH!" Papyrus ordered as he laughed, walking off...before turning around one more time.

"HEH!"

And then he was gone.

"heh. you got it bro."

Lux was seemingly frozen in place.

"it's okay. he's gone now."

"I know. My eyes are still open."

"right."

Lux immediately pushed himself to his feet. He looked down the snowy road and there was no one present.

"So that was you're brother, huh?"

"yup."

"He's...interesting. Kinda cool, actually."

"yeah. i think so too. he's the coolest. it's why it's so freezing cold here all the time."

Lux chuckled a little before bringing himself back to the situation at hand.

"Heh, yeah...um, Sans? Can I ask you something...strange?"

Sans looked to the side as if thinking about something before looking at the human again.

"sure. what do you gotta ask?"

Lux paused, rubbing his hands together to gather warmth before looking indirectly at Sans.

"Do you know who Toriel is?" Lux asked.

Sans's eyes went wide for a second before things went silent again. He traced his eyes down to the ground below him, closing them before he answered.

"nope. name doesn't ring a bell. but i do know a woman that i chat up every once and a while. we're always exchanging jokes through that big door just down the road where you came from...she just as fresh and up to date on her jokes as much as i am. never seen her in person though."

Lux sighed, turning around back towards the path where Papyrus had left.

"you should keep going, kid. if my brother comes back, you might have to sit through more of my jokes."

Lux gave out a chuckle. "And that's supposed to be a bad thing?"

"heh."

"Thanks, Sans. I hope we meet again." Lux said as he began to take steps away from him in the snow. But then he stopped.

"Uh...is there any type of city up ahead? I'm kinda lost on where to go." Lux asked.

"snowdin town should be up ahead, but its a while away. just keep moving and you'll hit it eventually...and my brother..."

Lux was quiet, listening.

"...hate to bother you, but can you do me a favor? "

"Sure...what is it?"

"...my bro's been kinda down lately...he's never seen a human before...he's not dangerous, even if he tries to be, so if you ever run into him again...that should cheer him up."

"Alright. Thanks, Sans! See ya later."

"thanks a million...i'll be up ahead."

Lux didn't get his last sentence, but continued forward without question.

As Lux walked on his way down the snowy path ahead, Sans looked back down to the ground.

"i never even saw him coming."

...

...

Lux had found himself in a pathway that led two other different ways. Just ahead, he spotted a familiar glowing yellow star that hovered above the ground in front of him.

 _That floating save-point-star-thing again..._

Lux walked up to it and touched it, the menu appearing above him.

 ***The inconvenience of the lamp and how everything still turned out fine fills you with DETERMINATION.**

●LUX

HP- 20/20

LVL-1

*SAVE

 **Progress Saved.**

"Still can't understand that thing." Lux muttered as he walked forward.

 **! ! !**

Suddenly, his glowing red SOUL zipped out of his chest and wavered above him.

"W-what?"

 ***Snowdrake flutters forth!**

"Hey! You!"

Lux jumped in his skin, turning around in confusion.

 ***ATK-2 DEF-6**

 ***This teen comedian fights to keep a captive audience.**

In front of him was another monster, clearly native to this area. Its face was arranged to resemble a snowflake, and was light blue on the entirety of his body except for his beak, eyes, underbelly, and feet, which were all yellow.

The Snowdrake approached him in a hurried manner, stopping right behind him. Lux instinctively jumped back and stood in a defensive position.

"H-who are you!?" Lux yelled back almost immediately.

The Snowdrake gave out a scoff and yelled back, "The name's Snowdrake, ya hear! And it's very.. **.ice**...to meet you!"

 _...huh?_

The Snowdrake grinned as a dozen sharp ice razors materialized out of nowhere and shot at him. Lux reacted accordingly, diving out of the way and avoid damage entirely.

The two were met with silence on both ends and the Snowdrake was seemingly waiting for a reaction. Before the silence could gain maximum awkwardness, Snowdrake spoke out.

"Um...ice puns are " **snow** " problem!?"

After hearing the Snowdrake's joke, Lux couldn't help but laugh.

"Heheh...hahaha, that was pretty good." Lux admitted.

The Snowdrake's eyes shined brightly at hearing the human's chuckling.

"See!? Laughs! Dad was wrong!"Snowdrake exclaimed, shouting to the sky.

He looked back down at Lux with narrowed eyes and a smile. "You my friend, have good taste!"

The 'options' menu appeared in front of Lux once again, giving him options.

He chose to...

 ***SPARE**

Snowdrake turned around and floated off, thanking him before he did.

"You're pretty " **cool** "!" Ha! Wait 'till I tell Icecap that I've still got it!"

And then he was gone.

Lux stood silent for the hundredth time that morning.

"...well that was...interesting." Lux said, smiling as he continued down the road.

He soon found himself traveling another long path, only to find Sans and his brother Papyrus just up ahead.

"But Sans was still behind me! How is he doing that!?" Lux silently screamed to himself as he came into view.

Closer and closer the human came until the two turned around, noticing his presence. Lux couldn't help but feel as if Sans already knew he was heading down the road at the exact time he did. _And he can seemingly teleport so...heheh, that's hilarious. Maybe I'm just tired._

"OH MY GOD! IS THAT!?" Papyrus shouted pointing in Lux's direction.

"...uh...I think that's just a rock." Sans replied nonchalantly.

Lux looked to the side of him to find pretty large rock. Papyrus kept pointing at it, non-moving.

 _Whew...maybe he wont notice me?_

"hey, what's that beside the rock?" Sans pointed out.

 _Come on, Sans!_

Papyrus's finger moved over slightly to point directly at the frozen form of Lux (which by the way refused to move, as usual).

"IT'S A HUMAN!" Papyrus screamed, jumping up in surprise. He closed his eyes, his skeleton hands rested proudly against his waist. "SANS I FINALLY DID IT! _UNDYNE_ WILL...I WILL BE SO...POPULAR, POPULAR, POPULAR! FINALY! THE RECOGNITION! THE FAME! THE GLORY! THE APPRECIATION! HUMAN! I SHALL CAPTURE YOU AND DELIVER YOU TO THE CAPITAL WHERE ASG-"

Papyrus could only feel the cool rush of air as Lux sped past him. Papyrus had yet to re-open his eyes before noticing his absence.

Silence...until.

"SANS? ARE HUMANS ALWAYS THIS FAST?"

"i dunno bro. but tell me when you see him again. we have a lot of things to _**ketchup**_ with.

"SAAANNNS!"

...

...

Lux dashed forward as fast as he could, silently thanking God for the snow to not have been too tall for him to run through. He stopped after he thought he was far enough. He noticed a "sentry station" seemingly made out of wood and cardboard. After reading the writing written in the center, he went on.

He ran into another text, only this time in the form of a warning sign. It read:

* **Absolutely NO MOVING!**

He spotted another sentry station just a good five seven in front of him.

Lux took the sign's notice with severity, but had no choice but to continue on.

"Can't just stop here...gotta keep moving. Maybe if I tip-toe my way..." Lux whispered as he acted on his words. Slowly, he brung each foot down after the other in the crunchy snow with as much ease as possible, trying to sneak past whatever might be hiding inside of the post.

However, just as his body positioned itself just in front of the post, a white and brown figure popped out, nearly causing Lux to lose his balance.

"Did something just move? Was it my imagination?" the male voice said to himself in suspicion. "I can only see moving things...so if something WAS moving, I would know...hmm..."

Lux was stuck on one foot, trying his best not to lose his balance.

"...per say, a Human. If I did, I would MAKE SURE it never moves again!" the voice finished.

Lux almost screamed under pressure as his SOUL zipped from out of his body, floating above him. The world darkened around him, just like it did with the battle with Toriel's evil and maddened side.

Before Lux could react, the figure leapt out of the post and landed a few feet in front of him.

 **! ! !**

 ***Doggo blocks the way!**

Trying to stay undetected, he stood stationary. However, Lux's eyes were wide open. In front of him stood a dog that stood like a human. It brandished a fairly large dagger in each hand, and wore a pair of yellow pants with brown spot designs, and a pink tank-top with a dog logo in the center.

Doggo's eyes slowly scanned the area, blue daggers of energy forming in front of him. The edges grew sharper in form, causing Lux to gulp. He was also afraid the dog Monster heard him do that.

The human's balance wavered in and out of his control. And as expected, Lux finally lost it. He fell sideways into the snow, and Doggo's head immediately snapped to his location. Raising a hand, he grabbed one of the energy daggers from above him and threw it with pinpoint-accuracy.

Lux was already in motion, rolling away from the spot where the blue dagger would eventually embed itself. And just as quickly, Lux paused his motions, keeping as stationary as he possibly could. His face laid against the sheer cold snow, and his eyes were faced opposite of Doggo's form.

What if he made a move that this Doggo picked up, and Lux didn't even know that he could? How would he know? Lux awaited the moment that had the possibility of occurring. The moment when he would feel the sharp, cold blade of a dagger enter his side.

But the seconds ticked on, and it never came.

"Huh," Doggo lowered his arm as the blue dagger in his hand faded out of existence, along with the rest that hovered above him.

"I guess it really was my imagination. Nothin' to worry 'bout!" Doggo exclaimed nonchalantly, pulling out a lighter and a lengthy doggy treat, lighting one end and putting the other end into his mouth. Without another word, he marched back to the post and disappeared behind the walls.

Despite the iciness of the frosty snow baring against his cheek, Lux laid still.

"Why is this happening to me?" Lux asked to no one, not caring who heard him at his point.

...

...

...

● _ **Unknown Location●**_

The small human sighed impatiently as she tugged on the sleeve of her stripped sweater.

She suddenly grew alert, uncrossing her legs and folder her arms as she heard the clanking of armor in the distance, just beyond the dense treelines she stood in front of.

"Talk about being fashionably late. 'Bout time you two showed up."

Two indistinguishable figures stood out a good 6 feet in front of the human, easily over-towering her by height.

"You try traversing your way through a two-mile forest with 300 pound armor and she how long you last, human." the larger figure said in a deep voice, taking a solid step forward.

"Why waste our time to bring us all the way out here anyways?"

The small human chuckled as if she had just heard the funniest thing in a hundred years.

"Because that nosy scientist might intervene again. Like he did the last time?" she answered.

The taller figure huffed. "How do we even know you're telling the truth?"

"Easy." The human walked up closer to the taller being, staring straight into it's beaming, red eyes.

"Because I am not from this universe, and yet, here I am, standing before you."

A fiery-orange flash of fire appeared in the taller figure's hand, extending until it formed a large, red trident, the tips growing ever sharper.

"You know, I've never had the pleasure of tasting a human before. Forgot from where, but I heard their quite the delicacy." the deep voice hissed, a large grin growing on it's face.

The small human continued to smile. "Careful now. Wouldn't wanna lose your only ticket to destination "alternative Underground". Heard their extremely hard to replace." the small human quipped in a simple manner.

"She's right," the figure beside the trident-wielding being added in. "There's no need for unnecessary banter. She's our only ace card. We have no choice but to trust her." the feminine voice finished in a cool tone.

A brief silence, and then the fiery trident dissipated following a grunt.

"Good," the small human said, closing her eyes with a wide smile.

...

...

...

"Oh look, Sans is mysteriously up ahead again." Lux said to himself as he approached. He noticed the icy terrain ahead, turning his head back to the skeleton.

"Hey, Sans. You're pretty fast..."

Sans chuckled. "i get that a lot. i just wanted to tell you somethin' else. My brother uses a special kind of attack..."

 _Attack?_

"...if you see a blue attack, just don't move and it can't hurt ya. try thinking of a stop sign. you stop at them. right?"

"Yeah..."

 _Are there stop signs in the Underground, too?_

"so just think of a stop sign when you find yourself at the face of a blue attack, alright? Just a heads up. "

Lux grew a bit worried, but remembered what Sans had said about his brother earlier. "Uh, thanks. I guess I'll keep moving. Again, thanks."

"no prob. i'll-"

"See you up ahead, yeah, I get it...I get it."

"cool."

Lux smiled and continued on. He approached the icy grounds staged in the center of the area, spotting the sign that resided in the middle.

"That must have some info on where I should go...but in the middle of all this ice? Come on, I need a break."

Plotting out which side would be best to slide to the sign on, he finally decided to go for it. Taking five steps back, he waited, psyching himself up before running forward. As his shoes made contact with the ice, he made sure to keep his balance.

" _Like on a skateboard...like on a skateboard"_ , he thought to himself as he came closer to the sign.

He used his hands to stop himself as they impacted the sign, shifting it just a tad. Now in front of the sign, he read what it stated.

 ***North- Ice**

 ***South- Ice**

 ***West- Ice**

 ***East- Snowdin Town...and more ice.**

"Hmmm...Snowdin Town is East from here, huh?" Lux said to himself, skating off of the ice to his right. Back on stable terrain, he looked forward towards another path.

"Guess I'm going that way." he stated simply, taking a few steps forward before-

 **! ! !**

 ***Lesser Dog appears!**

Lux's SOUL leaped out into the air as a white-furred dog-like creature appeared in front of him. It stood on it's two legs like the previous dog Monster, and held a shield and a sword in each of it's hands. Beady eyes store back at the human.

"Woof!"

Lux flinched a bit as it barked, unsure of what to do.

 _What? How am I supposed to fight an adorable dog like this? Oh...maybe..._

The options appeared to the human. He chose to **ACT**.

 **ACT:**

 _ ***Check**_

 _ ***Pet**_

 _ ***Pet**_

 _ ***Pet**_

 _ ***Pet**_

 ***You barely lift your finger and Lesser Dog got all excited.**

"woof!"

A blue sword materialized beside Lesser Dog and swept slowly toward the human.

"Crap, crap, crap!" Lux cried as he readied himself to dodge.

 _For some reason, it's the slowest things that scare me the most!_

It was only then when Lux's memory jogged and remembered what Sans had told him.

" _ **so just think of a stop sign when you find yourself at the face of a blue attack, alright? Just a heads up. "**_

Lux straightened himself up and stood stationary, taking Sans's words to heart. He had done the same with that Doggo's attacks, so why not with this one's?

The blue blade grew closer, and closer until it passed through him. He took no damage.

Lesser Dog tilted it's head sideways, it's beady eyes never leaving the human's.

"Arf! Arf! Arf!"

 _So cute._

The options again.

 ***FIGHT (heck no)**

 ***ACT**

 ***ITEMS**

 ***SPARE (heck yeah)**

So Lux chose to **SPARE**.

 _And thus, Lesser Dog was spared, and it was leet. Alas, the two wordlessly went on their separate ways, for they had other things set to be accomplished. The human would never comprehend the complicatedly complex trials that Lesser Dog would have to endure._

 _But seriously._

Lux was beginning to think that "just a while away" was an understatement. Ahead was another narrow pathway, trees covered in snow flanking the road from the sides. He took this path, admittedly still thinking that some horrible hands would reach out from the thicket of trees to get him.

As the path ended, another open area was revealed and at the very end...stood Sans and Papyrus.

 _How does Sans keep showing up in front of me!?_

"...I think that's called...sleeping."

"EXUSES, EXCUSES!"

Lux stiffened as Sans and Papyrus noticed his presence.

"SO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES ONCE AGAIN! TO CAPTURE YOU, ME AND MY BROTHER HAVE CONFIGURED SOME PUZZLES! I CAN EASILY THAT YOU'LL FIND THIS ONCE QUITE..." Papyrus paused his speech as he put a gloved hand on his chin.

"...SHOCKING."

Lux laughed lightly at the taller skeleton's bold words.

"Heheh...oh, it's not just another joke?"

"NO, HUMAN."

"...Oh...well, shoot."

"I AM NOT GOING TO "SHOOT" YOU. WELL ANYWAYS, THIS PUZZLE IS AN ELECTRICITY MAZE. WHENEVER YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEART ZAP!" Papyrus said.

"WELL. GO ON AHEAD."

Lux gulped, taking a few steps forward before stopping.

"Do I have to?"

"YES."

Sighing, he continued towards the trap area, slowly lifting a foot and eventually tapping the surface of the wide trap's space.

Without warning, Papyrus was suddenly engulfed in a blinding yellow light, following a buzzing sound. By the time the light faded from around the skeleton, he was blackened to a crisp. Papyrus shook the black charred residue off of himself as he turned to give Sans a glare.

"SANS! WHAT COULD POSSIBALY BE GOING WRONG AT THIS MOMENT RIGHT NOW!?"

"i think the human has to hold the orb."

Papyrus store at his brother with a blank expression.

"RIGHT."

Papyrus walked over the puzzle and to the human, leaving a trail of footprints in his wake.

"NOW, HOLD THIS."

Papyrus underhanded the orb into the air, it coming down to land on Lux's head.

"Ow."

Papyrus dashed back the way he came, turning around in a flash with a wide grin.

"NOW. HUMAN! TRY IT NOW!" Papyrus said aloud.

Lux store at the path Papyrus had unknowingly made for him. He then got a look at Sans again.

 _Same unrelenting grin._

And that unrelenting smile never faltered throughout the number of trials that the tall skeleton known as Papyrus had set up for him. It was all becoming what seemed to be some sort of game.

But everything worked out.

In a matter of hours, Lux had slid across an ice puzzle, kicked snowballs into golf holes, joined Snowdrake and Ice and ditched a Monster named Jerry...

And ran into another one of Papyrus's traps.

"SANS! WHERE IS THE PUZZLE!?"

"it's right there. on the ground. trust me. there's no way he can get past this one."

The puzzle was a piece a piece of paper that lay in between him and the two skeleton bros.

The "puzzle" was a kids word search sheet.

"This is going to be a breeze." Lux quietly stated.

Then along came Dogamy & Dogaressa.

More dogs.

And that, of course, led to more SPAREing.

 _ ***The Dogs are saying sickly sweet things to each other.**_

" **Dogs can pet other dogs?"**

 **("A new world has opened up for us!")**

Yup.

 ***SPARE**

More puzzles. And they were silently driving Lux crazy.

"good job on solving it so quickly." Sans had told him.

"you didn't even need my help. which is great, 'cause i love doing absolutely nothing."

...

And then the "Gauntlet of Deadly Terror"?

Maces, spears, cannons, blades, and...a dangling, white puppy?

As Lux stood on the bridge, lethal weapons all around him, Papyrus readied to press the button to activate the deadly traps (minus the puppy?).

But he didn't.

"YOU NOW WHAT? THIS TRAP IS TOO EASY! TOO DIRECT. THIS IS NOT FOR MY STANDARDS! IT HOLDS NO CLASS AT ALL. AWAY IT GOES!"

Then, finally. It was within sight.

And as Lux approached, the first thing he saw in front of him was a sign. And it read:

 _ **.: Welcome to Snowdin :.**_


End file.
